


Sing for Today

by Bookkeeper1



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Dancing and Singing, F/M, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hunk Needs A Hug, M/M, Musical References, Musicals, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Singing, Space Dorks, oblivious everyone, space dorks in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-02-10 00:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12899664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookkeeper1/pseuds/Bookkeeper1
Summary: Hunk's seen some strange things since coming to space. But seeing his friends break into musical numbers, then completely deny doing so? That might be the strangest thing yet.It's up to Hunk to solve this musical-mystery and put a stop to it, no matter how catchy the songs are. Because it's unlcear where the biggest danger lies: with the Galra, or with the paladins who cannot stop rhythimcally revealing their deepest secrets...





	1. So Sing for the River

It was early in the morning. Or at least, as early as it could be out in space where time only existed relatively. Still, Hunk figured as he set a big mixing bowl on the counter, it was definitely early for the residents of the castle-ship, as not even Shiro, known for being last asleep and first awake, was up yet. Which was exactly as Hunk had planned.

During the last mission of saving another alien planet from a Galra attack, Hunk had finally succeeded in his own personal mission he had been carrying out in secret for the past several weeks. He had gotten the idea after an off-handed comment from Keith, and had been slowly working towards his goal since then. It had been hard, keeping it a secret from the rest of the team, but this morning it was all going to pay off.

“Never had pancakes,” Hunk grumbled to himself, pulling out some mixing spoons, still upset over Keith’s admission weeks ago. A horrified Hunk had sworn to himself right then to do everything in his power to rectify this. And after realizing that Coran and Allura would never have had any either, let alone that it had been months since Shiro, Pidge, Lance, or himself had eaten any type of Earth-breakfast... well, Hunk had known what he had to do.

It hadn’t been easy to find ingredients on these alien planets that were close enough to what he needed, let alone try and gather them without the rest of the team being aware, but Hunk had quickly discovered that the team was usually more than willing to let him go off on his own for a bit if he made the excuse that he was nauseous and looking for a bathroom. And once alone, it usually didn’t take long to explain what he was looking for to an occupant of the planet, who was often more than willing to assist one of the paladins who had just risked their life protecting them.

Hunk stifled a yawn as he laid out all of his cooking utensils in front of him. By his calculations it was about 6 in the morning Earth-time, or thereabouts. Shiro could be up soon, but he should have at least an hour before the others started to awaken (several hours in the case of Lance if no one woke him up). Normally Hunk liked to have a bit of music playing while he worked (as a favor to him Pidge had hooked up a sound system in the kitchen), but he didn’t want to risk waking the others up with the noise.

As a compromise between playing the music and silence, Hunk started singing softly to himself to try and keep himself awake.

“Sugar,” he whisper-sang as he gathered up the alien-ingredients he had hidden in the back of what amounted to the pantry.

“Butter,” he continued as he set them down by the bowls.

“Flour,” he added as he grabbed the bag of what was essentially flour, appart from its green coloring (“Space-flour,” he thought fondly, thinking of Lance).

As he started measuring out the ingredients and adding them to the bowl he kept up with the song, getting a bit louder as he got into it but making sure to keep his voice at about a whisper.

“My hands pluck the things I know that I’ll need; I take the sugar and butter from the pantry. I add the flour to begin what I am hoping to start, and then it’s down with the recipe, and bake from the heart.”

“Sugar,” Hunk repeated as he started mixing some of the ingredients together with a large spoon. “And butter. And flour. And mother,” his voice getting a little softer on the last word, picturing his own mother back on Earth. She loved baking too.

Hunk pushed those thoughts away for now. This was not the time to fall into a reminiscing-about-Earth depression (as Lance had dubbed the feeling after tiring of saying the word “homesick” so often). 

“What’s inside?” Hunk continued with his song. “Everyone wants to know what’s inside. And I always tell them, but I feel more than words can say. You wanna know what’s inside? Simple question, so then what’s the answer? My whole life is in here, in this kitchen baking – What a mess I’m making.”

He chuckled as he sang the last line, as the process of adding all of the ingredients to his bowl had indeed resulted in space-four, space-sugar, space-etc., spilling onto the counter and floor.

“Hunk!” Hunk jumped as he suddenly heard his named called out. Turning himself around he saw Shiro coming into the kitchen.

“Oh, good morning Shiro,” he started to say, but Shiro continued on over him, “What’s the special today?”

“Uh, space-cakes,” Hunk responded back.

“Space-cakes?” Shiro asked, seeming confused.

“Ye – uh, pancakes! Space-pancakes. Sorry, Shiro!”

“C’mon, Hunk,” Shiro sighed.

Now normally Hunk would take a bit of offense to that. It wasn’t like he had really done anything wrong after all. But before he could he realized that the tune of the conversation matched the next song after the one he had been singing perfectly. He wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not, but now that song was in his head, so he continued with it as he started to pour the batter out on the alien-stove.

“The day starts like the rest we’ve seen, another carbon copy of an old routine…” he sang at the same soft volume as before. Another voice suddenly calling out behind him had him letting out a very-normal-for-the-situation-thank-you-very-much screech. 

It was Lance. “Days keep coming,” he belted out as he strode into the room.

“One out, one in,” Pidge continued as she suddenly appeared, following a step behind Lance.

Hunk tried to still his frantically beating heart and smiled at his friends. Look at those two, up early, singing along with him! He couldn’t remember the last time Lance and he had done an impromptu singing number, and he couldn’t remember Pidge ever joining in. This was nice of them.

“They keep coming!” all three sang the next line at the same time.

“And make that space-coffee strong enough to chew!” Shiro called out from his usual spot at the table.

Hunk was ecstatic. Shiro was joining in too! This was the best morning he could remember since coming to space.

Lance and Pidge continued to help him sing through the next few verses. As he flipped pancakes, swaying a bit in place to the tune as he did so, Lance and Pidge started putting out plates and cups, sometimes giving a little twirl as they passed Hunk by. The three of them made it through the chorus together. Lance then took over the next part, and Hunk was amused as he caught Lance changing some of the words to better fit their situation.

“I wouldn’t call this place a happy end, but I’ve been round the universe and just came back again! A small ship like ours ain’t much, but sometimes space is where your ass ends up,” Lance belted out, shaking his hips at the end of the last line.

Hunk let out a sudden laugh at Lance’s antics at the same time Shiro called out “Order up!”

Before Hunk could say anything Pidge was already singing the next part. “Ordered up is how the day will find me,” she sang as she brought some space-coffee over to Shiro and started pouring some in his cup. “Everything in its place and time, but I hate the way most of the days look exactly the same!” Hunk briefly took notice of the couple of words she changed, but didn’t give it too much thought, still wrapped up in the song.

“Order up!” Shiro called again, which Hunk would’ve found a bit redundant if he hadn’t known it was part of the song.

Hunk joined Lance and Pidge as they sang the next verse together, with Shiro occasionally calling out orders as his parts came up. Together they made it all the way through the last chorus.

“Some things never change!” he, Lance, and Pidge sang the big finish passionately. Once the last note ended Lance and Pidge sat down at the same time at the now-made table. Hunk burst out laughing at the ridiculous and amazing moment that just happened. None of the others reacted though. Shiro slowly sipped his space-coffee, and Pidge pulled out a small device from her pocket and started tinkering with it. Lance was the only one to acknowledge Hunk.

“Something funny there, buddy?” Lance asked, looking up and over at him. Hunk’s laughter petered off into small chuckles, and he looked at Lance a bit confused, but before he could respond Keith came in through the doorway.

“Oh Keith, you missed it!” Hunk said, setting down a platter of now-done space-pancakes in the middle of the table, Lance and Pidge grabbing some before the platter even touched the surface. “Lance and Pidge and I just sang the whole opening number to Waitress, which is one of my favorite musicals by the way guys. Shiro even helped too!” Hunk went back over where the next round of pancakes were being grilled and started flipping them. “Lance, I know you like musicals about as much as me, and Pidge, you’ve probably heard us sing that song enough times so I get how you know the words. But Shiro, I wouldn’t have taken you for a musical kind of guy!”

Hunk turned around to look at Shiro, spatula in one hand, only to see Shiro looking at him with his head tilted, looking slightly confused.

“I’m not,” Shiro said slowly. “Not really into musicals, that is. I probably only know of a few, and can’t say that I really know any of the words.”

“Really?” Hunk said, disbelievingly. “But you said all of your parts correct at the right time and everything!”

“What are you talking about, Hunk?” Pidge asked, looking up from her device. “Shiro wasn’t singing – nor were Lance or I, for that matter.”

“Uh, yeah, you were,” Hunk said back, not really sure why she would deny it. “Like I said, we did the whole ‘Opening Up’ sequence from Waitress.”

“Buddy, as much as I love that musical, I can tell you with 100% certainty that none of us were singing this morning,” Lance said through a mouth full of pancake.

Pidge and Shiro nodded in agreement. Hunk looked between the three of them, flabbergasted. He tried to think of something to say to convince them of what he knew had just happened.

“But… we… what?” was the best he could come up with.

“Are you feeling alright, Hunk?” Shiro asked, concerned.

“Maybe you’re just tired,” Keith offered. “It is pretty early for you, right?”

“Maybe…” Hunk said, not convinced in the slightest. He wanted to keep protesting, but with Keith’s words he pushed those thoughts aside for now, remembering his mission.

“Keith! Try these space-pancakes. They’re a little sweeter than most Earth-pancakes, and a lot greener, but they’re about as close as I could get them.”

As Keith sat down next to Lance to try Hunk’s work, the other three already on their second round, Hunk was still a little worried about what had just happened. However, breakfast was happening now, and that needed to be given priority. 

After all, Hunk thought as he pulled some space-pancakes onto his own plate, what were the odds of something like that happening again?

As it turned out, high. Very, very high.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> "What's Inside" from Waitress  
> "Opening Up" from Waitress


	2. And Sing for the Stars

Hunk did try again to get his friends to admit to their actions, but no matter how hard he tried throughout the day, no one admitted to the musical routine they had done that morning. Keith couldn’t believe that Shiro or Pidge would do something like that (though he admitted he could see Lance doing it). Shiro and Pidge agreed that neither one of them had the musicals chops to pull something like that off. Lance said that he totally would have done a sing-along with Hunk if he had asked, but agreed with the others that no singing had taken place that morning. It got to the point where even Lance seemed to get tired of Hunk’s persistent questioning.

“Dude, if you want to sing with me so bad, we can sing! You don’t have to keep making up stories.”

Hunk had given up trying by the time they met up with Coran and Allura. If the other four weren’t going to admit it to him, they certainly weren’t going to admit it to the Alteans.

The rest of the day passed pretty normally, if rather quietly. There were no planets in desperate need of saving, no ships in need of rescue, and the Galra, if they were attacking somewhere, weren’t doing so in their immediate area or causing any alerts or alarms to been sent off to them. Shiro decided that the team should use the opportunity to really work on some training as a group. While the team had decidedly improved since that first horrible lesson, they still had a long way to go. 

Hunk kept a close eye on everybody throughout training, suspicious of everyone, but no one’s actions seemed out of the norm. Lance and Keith had their usual amount of bickering, but they were getting better at keeping it to a minimum when actually completing the training sequences. Shiro and Allura practiced hand-to-hand together for a while, not for the first time; as the two best fighters (followed fairly closely by Keith) they often paired off together. Pidge’s actions weren’t abnormal either, making her usual amount of snarky comments at Lance’s and Keith’s immaturity whenever they acted up, and occasionally pondering out loud ways to improve the training system.

By the time dinner came around Hunk had just about convinced himself that that morning had truly been a one-time thing. He was mostly relieved at the thought. Space had enough weirdness in it already without adding unconscious singing into it. However, he was admittedly a little disappointed. Even if the singing had been weird, it had also been really fun while it was happening. 

But, he throughout to himself as he, the rest of the team, and Allura started eating (Coran was on his way, saying he wanted to make a few quick checks of the castle’s systems first), it was probably for the best if that kind of incident never happened again.

Immediately after he thought this Shiro started speaking to the group.

“I’d like to take a moment to say good work today everyone,” Shiro said, smiling at them all. “I know what we’re doing isn’t easy, so I’m proud of how much effort you’ve all been putting in.”

“Thank you, Shiro,” Allura said, smiling back at him. “That’s very kind of you to say.”

“No, thank you,” Shiro said insistently. “This job is really dangerous. Way too dangerous for a bunch of kids. And I hate that I’m putting you in danger, and keeping you from your families, and risking your lives…” Shiro was talking faster, working himself up, and looking worried and almost panicked. Hunk felt bad for him; their situation wasn’t his fault after all, and they were defending the universe by their own choice. Hunk was about to get up to go to Shiro and reassure him but Lance stood up first.

Hunk figured he’d let his friend have first go at comforting their leader so he stayed in his seat. And almost fell out of it in shock a moment later as Lance opened his mouth and started singing.

“I may not live to see our glory,” he sang, facing Shiro with a serious expression on his face. Hunk had an instant to wonder if this was Lance’s strange way of comforting Shiro before Keith, Pidge, and Allura were singing too, repeating Lance’s line, each looking at Shiro just as seriously.

“But I will gladly join the fight,” Lance continued, the others repeating his line once again. Hunk looked between everyone’s faces, in absolute shock.

“And when our children tell our story.”

“And when our children tell our story,” Keith, Pidge, and Allura sang after Lance.

“They’ll tell the story of tonight,” Lance sang, finishing the verse.

Hunk stared wide-eyed at him, then even wider at Allura as she sang the next line by herself.

“Let’s have another round tonight,” she declared, standing up as she sang the line. Her voice was very pretty, Hunk dazedly noted to himself; that was probably the least shocking thing about all of this.

“Let’s have another round tonight,” Pidge added, also standing.

“Let’s have another round tonight,” Lance softly crooned.

Now Keith, who had been the only one still sitting apart from Hunk, stood up. “Raise a glass to freedom,” he sang, lifting up his cup and Hunk could only stare, his mind full of so many questions that he couldn’t speak. Keith kept singing. “Something they can never take away, no matter what they tell you. Raise a glass to the six of us.”

“Tomorrow they’ll be more of us!” Allura joined Keith for that line, also lifting up her beverage.

Pidge added her voice to the two for the following line. “Telling the story of tonight.”

“They’ll tell the story of tonight,” Lance sang by himself.

The other three sang together again the same line as earlier, all raising their drinks out in front of them. “Raise a glass to freedom, something they can never take away.”

“No matter what they tell you,” Lance added.

“Let’s have another round tonight,” Allura and Pidge sang.

“Raise a glass to the six of us,” Keith continued.

All four sang together in unison, standing up straight and proud, “Tomorrow there’ll be more of us!”

Lance and Keith sang together, “Telling the story of tonight.”

“Let’s have another round tonight,” Allura and Pidge sang after them.

“They’ll tell the story of tonight,” Lance and Keith sang again, while Allura and Pidge went “Raise a glass to freedom.” As they all repeated their lines again Hunk registered the proud smile on Shiro’s face, and the tears that seemed to be in his eyes.

On the last line Shiro joined in with the other four. “They’ll tell the story of tonight,” they all sang together, softly but passionately, stretching the last word out.

As the last note died away the five singers remained still for a moment. Then Lance made his way over to Shiro and hugged him.

“It’s alright, Shiro. You’re a great leader, and we want to be here, defending the universe.”

A chorus of agreement came from everyone but Hunk, who felt immobile.

“Besides,” Lance continued, a smirk appearing on his face. “We’re all in this together.”

Shiro let out a small chuckle at the same time that Pidge and Keith let out identical-sounding groans.

“Lance, this is not the appropriate time to quote High School Musical!” Pidge reprimanded Lance, while Keith rolled his eyes.

“Any time’s a perfect time to quote High School Musical!” Lance insisted, giving Shiro one last pat before returning to his seat. The others all sat down too. 

“I’m sorry, but what is Lance referring to?” Allura asked curiously.

Lance turned to her and launched into his speech about “the greatest film trilogy of all time!” while Pidge bemoaned Lance’s apparent lack of culture, getting into an argument with him about if High School Musical was actually that good. Keith looked at Shiro, quietly asking him if he was okay, with Shiro smiling and giving him a small nod.

Hunk, still frozen in the exact same position he had been in for the past several minutes, moved his head quickly, staring at each person at the table individually. He realized his mouth was still hanging open and closed it quickly, but opened it again a second later.

“Nope!” he called out, pointing at everyone at the table one by one. The others dropped off their conversations and looked at him. “Nope, nope, nope-ity-nope, nope. No way. We are not pretending that didn’t just happen. Guys, _what was that!?_ ” Hunk was talking frantically at this point.

“What was what, buddy?” Lance asked, seemingly confused. The others, to Hunk’s continued shock, didn’t seem to know what he was talking about either.

“That song!” Hunk cried out desperately. “That _Hamilton_ song you all just sang. What was that? Why did you just do that! Keith, how do you know the words to that song!? Allura, how do _you_ know the words!? What is going on!?!?” Hunk was getting worked up at this point, and the others were looking very concerned.

“Hunk, it’s okay, let’s calm down,” Lance said, trying to reassure him. “Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. You said Hamilton? I’m sorry dude, but none of us were quoting that. Maybe you misheard?”

“It wasn’t just quoting!” Hunk cried out. “All five of you sang an entire song from that musical together!”

“Is this like that thing from this morning?” Pidge asked, trying to sound annoyed but clearly concerned for Hunk. 

“Hunk, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Allura asked him, tilting her head in worry.

“Maybe you need to get your hearing checked,” Keith suggested. “I’ve never even heard of that musical.”

“What!?” Lance cried out, quickly turning to face Keith. “You’ve never heard of the greatest musical of all time!?”

Keith shrugged unapologetically.

Shiro, whose attention hadn’t wavered from Hunk, spoke to him. “Hunk, maybe you need to go to the med bay and have Coran look you over. This is abnormal behavior for you.”

“Abnormal behavior for _me?_ ” Hunk asked incredulously. But looking between the other five faces he could tell that none of them would be admitting to what happened any time soon.

“Fine,” Hunk said, standing up suddenly. “I’ll have Coran look me over, if only to eliminate that there’s nothing wrong with me, and that it’s you guys who something weird’s happening to.” He stomped over to the doorway.

“And guys,” he added, turning around. He saw everyone looking worried up at him, but was too annoyed with them to care. “If this is a joke, it isn’t very funny.” He turned back and marched out the door.

~~~

“Well Number Two, you’re the picture of health!” Coran proclaimed about half an hour later. It had taken awhile for Hunk to track down Coran, finally finding him tinkering with the teludov. Hunk asked him for a full medical check, to which Coran concernedly asked if he was feeling alright. Hunk explained that he felt fine, just wanted to check something. He didn’t want to go into details about the others until he was declared to be fine. Coran still looked a bit worried, but said that if Hunk just stepped into a healing pod, it should only take it a few ticks to scan him for anything wrong. Hunk quickly dragged Coran over to the med bay, wanting it done as quickly as possible. After stepping into a pod and stepping out less than a minute later Coran had given his diagnosis.

“Good,” Hunk sighed. He had been pretty sure that the problem didn’t lie with him, but as he had searched for Coran the possibility had occurred to him that maybe he was only hearing/seeing things, and that the others were right. At least he knew now that wasn’t the case, and something was wrong with the others. This fact was not very comforting to him.

“May I ask what this is about?” Coran came over to where Hunk was sitting on the steps outside the pod and took a seat next to him.

“There’s something wrong with the others,” Hunk explained. “They didn’t believe me when I told them, so I had to make sure that the problem wasn’t with me.” 

“What’s wrong with the others?” Coran asked, looking worried. “Do we need to go check on them? Are they in danger?”

“No, no,” Hunk reassured Coran, who was halfway standing and looked like he was about to go check on everyone. “It’s not like that. It’s nothing dangerous, I think, just… really weird.”

Coran sat back down and looked at Hunk, waiting silently for an explanation.

Hunk took a deep breath and sighed. “They’ve been singing,” he explained. “They’ve been singing entire songs from musicals from Earth and then when I ask them about it they deny even singing at all.”

“And it’s not like it’s just me and Lance!” Hunk continued. “It’s literally everyone, and I know there’s no way Pidge and Keith know all the words to these song. Shiro, well, I don’t know about him, but he said he didn’t know much about musicals this morning! And just now at dinner, even Allura was singing along. And she was getting all the words right! She shouldn’t know anything about Earth musicals, but she didn’t even miss a single word!” Hunk was waving his arms around wildly at this point.

He took a deep breath and sighed, trying to calm down. “Anyway, that’s what’s been happening. That’s why I wanted the scan, to eliminate that the problem was with me. But now I don’t know what to think.” He sighed again and shook his head before looking over at Coran. “Got any ideas?” he asked, half-hopefully.

“Actually,” Coran said, stroking his mustache thoughtfully, eyes distant. “I just may.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> “The Story of Tonight” from Hamilton


	3. Sing for the Friends You Make

“Well?” Hunk asked Coran impatiently, who still hadn’t answered and was just stroking his mustache repeatedly. 

“Hmm?” Coran asked. “Oh, yes,” he added as he seemed to shake himself out of his daze. 

“Back on Altea, we used to be allied with hundreds of planets across the galaxy.”

Hunk looked at him blankly. “Coran, as much as I enjoy listening to you explain about Altea,” (eh, 50/50 enjoyment and annoyance. Coran had some good stories, but he tended to ramble) “now is really not the best time.”

“Patience, young grasshopper,” Coran said reassuringly. Hunk looked at him in shock for a moment before his eyes narrowed in realization. “You learned that from Lance, didn’t you?”

“Indeed, Number Two. He has taught me much in the ways of your rad Earthly language.”

“And 80s lingo, apparently,” Hunk muttered to himself. “Anyway, Coran, you were saying? About the singing?”

“Ah yes. Back on Altea, we were allied with all kinds of planets across the galaxy. Trading with them gave us access to all sorts of strange items. For example, there was a bug on planet Erama, which if it bit you, would make you fall in love with the first person you saw afterwards. There was another planet, Satirev, on which there was a mist, and those who passed through it could only tell the truth for some time afterwards. And on planet Obatnac-”

“The point, Coran?”

Coran huffed. “The point, oh-impatient-one, is that the Obatnacians had this coming-of-age ritual, where before entering adulthood, they would eat this fruit that would cause them to reveal their innermost thoughts and desires through songs they called ‘mucitnacs.’”

Finally, a point, Hunk thought to himself. “Do you think it’s possible that the others ate this fruit?”

“It seems possible,” Coran said. “Especially since the last planet we were on was planet Obatnac.”

“Coran!” Hunk cried out, half-embarrassed he hadn’t recognized the name. But hey, everything out here in space had strange names, and he couldn’t keep track of all of them. “And you didn’t think to warn anyone?”

“I’m very sorry for not immediately remembering every detail about the hundreds of planets I am familiar with!” Coran said sarcastically, huffing at Hunk.

“When could the others have even eaten the fruit?” Hunk asked out loud. “I don’t remember seeing anything like that.” Of course this had to happen the one time he didn’t try weird alien food…

“I believe it likely happened right after we got to the planet. You said something about finding a bathroom, and while we waited for you with the dignitaries we were offered a sort of salad as refreshment.”

Shoot, Hunk thought. Must have been when I was getting the last ingredient for the pancakes. “And you didn’t think to check it?” he asked Coran exasperatedly. “Or save any for me?” he added as an afterthought. He didn’t remember seeing food of any kind once he rejoined the others.

“We were hungry!” Coran defended. “And the Obatnacians said that it was safe to eat!”

“Wait, hold up,” Hunk said, realizing something. “You keep saying ‘we.’ Coran, did you eat the fruit too!?”

Coran looked a little sheepish. “Unfortunately yes, Number Two.”

“Does this mean you’re going to be singing musical numbers with no memory of it too?”

“Almost certainly.”

Hunk groaned long and loud at the ridiculous situation they had somehow found themselves in. “Okay,” he said after a minute of processing. “Okay. So this isn’t so bad. So you’ll all be singing and dancing around for a while. This is okay. I can deal with this this. It’s weird, but we’ve seen weirder, right? This could be fun! It’s not like it’s dangerous.” For the first time since that morning Hunk felt himself relax.

Only to tense up again a second later as Coran spoke. “Unfortunately, Number Two, there are a couple of very serious dangers we should be concerned about.”

“Of course there are!” Hunk moaned. “Of course! Nothing can ever be that easy.” He huffed. “So what’s the danger?”

“The primary one I can think of,” Coran said, “Is that the one who has eaten the fruit has no control over when they start singing, and once a being starts singing a mucitnac, they are unable to stop until it is completed.”

"And that’s bad because...?” Hunk asked, not seeing the danger. Sure, it could be embarrassing for whoever was singing, but they’d have no knowledge of it anyway, right?

It was Coran’s turn to give Hunk a look. “Number Two, we spend quite a bit of our time in combat. Can you really think of no scenarios where bursting into song uncontrollably might be a bad idea?”

It took Hunk only five seconds of thinking to understand what Coran was saying. “Oh geez. Like if we were on a stealth mission, and one of you started singing a really loud ballad, giving away our position. Or if one of the songs gave away some of our important secrets, and the Galra found a way to use it against us. Or…” Hunk trailed off, but he could think of another half-dozen scenarios off the top of his head where singing would put them in danger. Curse his anxiety-riddled and imaginative mind.

“Well, how to we get it to stop?” Hunk asked Coran frantically. “You said it was a ritual, right? There must be a way for it to end!”

“Ah,” said Coran. “Therein lies the other problem. You see, the ritual would only stop once the Obatnacian sang their ‘Mucitnac Sidroc,’ a song which would reveal to themselves and others the inner secret which they had kept most hidden.”

“The problem,” Coran continued. “Is that we on Altea quickly found that the fruit affects Alteans slightly differently than it affects Obatnacians. You see, while they would have little choice in what they sang, they were aware of their actions, and thus when they sang their Mucitnac Sidroc, they knew it, and with the revelation and realization of their most hidden thoughts and feelings they would no longer be forced to sing. But Alteans, when eating this fruit, would be unaware of singing or doing anything out of the ordinary at all, and thus couldn’t tell when they had sung the Mucitnac Sidroc.”

“It seems as if humans take after Alteans in that regard,” Coran concluded.

For what felt like the hundredth time during this conversation Hunk felt his heart pounding as he panicked. “So what you’re saying is there’s no way for them to stop?” 

“Not at all,” Coran quickly reassured him. “It became tradition for Alteans who ate the fruit to do so in the company of a trusted friend or loved one, who could relay back to them what they had sung.”

“So it’s up to us to listen for these special songs and tell the others what their hidden feelings are?” Oh boy, Hunk thought to himself, he was not looking forward to those conversations.

“Not us,” Coran corrected him. “Just you, Number Two.”

“Just me!? Why just me!?”

“Well, since I too have consumed the fruit, I also will unlikely be able to tell when the others are singing. And it is probable that I will often be too wrapped up in my own songs to be of much help anyway.”

“What if we told the others about this?”

“We could try, but there would be little point. No matter what we say during or after their songs they will have no knowledge of their actions, and without proof it’s doubtful they will believe us. Not even Allura would – the fruit had rather lost popularity on Altean in recent years, and by Allura’s time it was considered out of fashion. I doubt Allura has even heard of it.”

“Alright,” said Hunk. “Let me make sure I’ve got this. So I, by myself, need to listen for the others’ songs about their secret desires, and when I know their hidden feelings, I need to tell them what they are?”

“Precisely!” 

“How will I know which song is their muc… muc sid… what did you call it?”

“Mucitnac Sidroc,” Coran said slowly, enunciating the word. “Muc as in mucilotizan, and sid as in sidiminolin.”

“…”

Coran seemed to take pity on him. “They were also commonly referred to as heart-songs.”

“Let’s go with that,” Hunk said, making the easy choice. “So how will I know when they sing their heart-songs? Man, that sounds sappy,” Hunk added as an afterthought. Good thing he loved sappy stuff.

“Were the songs already sung done so as a group?” Hunk nodded to answer Coran’s question. “The heart-song will most likely be sung by just a single individual. It’s rare for two beings both affected to have the same most hidden desire.”

“Also,” Coran continued, “they’re not called ‘hidden desires’ for no reason. The subject of the song will definitely be something extremely personal that you would never expect the singer to reveal.”

“Got it,” Hunk said. “This is utterly ridiculous, but I got it.”

“Alright,” said Coran, clapping his hands together. “Now you just need to stick to the others like something sticky!”

“Glue?” Hunk suggested. Or a stick, he thought to himself, then immediately berated himself for it. This was no time for dad jokes.

“Possibly,” Coran shrugged. “In any case, you should get going. You don’t want to not be there when they do sing their heart-songs!” He clapped Hunk on the back at this, and stood up, stretching.

Hunk realized that Coran was right. If he was indeed the only one who would be able to hear the others’ songs, then he was the only one who could put a stop to this. He hurried out of the room and into the hall, hoping that the others would all be hanging out together; it would be a lot easier to keep an eye on them all that way. 

He could only hope that the next time one of them started singing wasn’t in one of those dangerous situations he had imagined before.

 

~~~

 

Hunk really needed to stop hoping for things. He was always disappointed.

After his talk with Coran, he had gone back to the kitchen to find only Shiro remaining. After reassuring Shiro that he was fine, and that Coran had pronounced him healthy, Shiro seemed to relax a little, though he still glanced at Hunk with a mix of concern and suspicion whenever he thought Hunk wasn’t looking. Hunk couldn’t really blame him; after all, Hunk was staring at Shiro quite a bit, watching for signs of sudden singing. 

Hunk wondered if maybe he had stared too much as Shiro got up, claimed to have “very important leader things to take care of,” and left. 

“Now what?” Hunk thought to himself, alone in the kitchen. He obviously needed to keep an eye on the team. He didn’t want to miss it when they sang their heart-songs. Because what if they sang them when he wasn’t there? Then no one would know, and the team would be stuck singing their feelings forever, and it would be an extra unneeded element of danger, and it would be Hunk’s fault, and…

“Breathe,” Hunk told himself, taking a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Breathe. This is no time to work yourself into a panic. The team needs you.”

Determined not to miss anything, Hunk spent the rest of the evening visiting each member of the team, checking in on them for barely ten minutes before making an excuse and going to watch someone else. Lance was in his room, listening to music before starting on his nighttime beauty routine. Allura was in her room talking with the mice. Keith was in the training room, unsurprisingly, and Pidge was in her room tinkering with some new project. Shiro seemed to be wandering the halls, and Hunk kept passing him as he made his way from one friend to another. 

After his second visit to each person he realized he should be keeping an eye on Coran too. Hunk looked, but he couldn’t seem to find him. After 15 minutes of searching he decided he was wasting time that could be spent watching the others, and hurried back to Lance’s room.

However, by the third time he had checked on everyone, he had to admit to himself that he should probably stop. For one, the others were starting to get annoyed with him as he kept barging into their space, staring at them awkwardly for a few minutes, and then bolting away. For another, Hunk was _tired_. Running around from one end of the castle to another was exhausting, he thought to himself as he leaned against the wall of a hallway and tried to catch his breath.

The lights slowly dimmed. “Ah,” Hunk gasped to himself. “Bedtime.”

He thought about making one last check on Pidge, but decided it was probably a bad idea – the last time he had visited he had opened her door without knocking, causing her to jump and knock her project off of her worktable. She had chased him out of her room with a shoe.

“I need a better plan,” Hunk declared, still breathing hard as he made his way back to his room. “This isn’t working.”

He was missing too much. He couldn’t be in every place at once, and every minute he spent watching one person was a minute not watching five others. He had never realized before how much time the team spent apart from each other.

However, after all the weird events of that day, not to mention all of that running he had just done, Hunk was both mentally and physically exhausted. As he crawled into bed, not even changing out of his clothes, he resolved to come up with a plan in the morning.

He did not get that chance.

Hunk jumped awake as the ship’s alarm started blaring and Allura’s voice cried out over the speakers. “Paladins, come to the bridge immediately. We have detected a Galran ship nearby. This is not a drill!”

It could still be a drill, Hunk thought as he raced to put on his armor and grab his bayard. Allura was a very excellent bluffer, and had gotten pretty good at being convincing during a test.

Coran’s voice followed Allura’s. “The Princess is correct, paladins! You must hurry!”

“Definitely not a drill,” Hunk muttered to himself as he raced out the door. Unlike Allura, Coran had never quite gotten the hang of lying convincingly. He tended to overact in these situations. If he was sounding sincere, then it must be a real threat.

Not 20 minutes later Hunk found himself sneaking as quietly as he could through a hallway on the Galran ship, Lance at his side, Keith and Pidge up ahead. After scanning the ship no life forms were detected, but Pidge had been convinced that it could still contain important information about the Empire on it, and that they should go onboard to retrieve it. Shiro was hesitant, but after Pidge added that there could be information about prisoners on the ship’s databanks, he agreed that it was worth the risk.

Thus the plan was made: Pidge, Keith, Lance, and Hunk would sneak on board the ship. Pidge would get the information, Keith would give her cover her while she was hacking, and Hunk and Lance would cover both of them from a distance. Allura and Coran would keep the Castle’s weapons ready, and Shiro would be on standby in the Black Lion, in case of either it's weapons or a quick rescue being needed. 

After a few quiet but tense minutes of sneaking they found what must be the control room in the middle of the ship. The panel that Pidge needed to hack into was unfortunately placed in the middle of the large room. Looking around the room, Lance met Hunk’s eyes and gestured up. Hunk agreed that they need to get higher to better cover their friends; there were two platforms raised on either side of the room, and using their jetpacks Hunk positioned himself on one and Lance on the other.

So far everything was running smoothly. Almost too smoothly, Hunk felt.

Pidge approached the control panel, and Keith stood at her back in ready position, prepared for any attacker. Said attackers appeared a moment later; the instant Pidge’s fingers started touched the panel, doors on opposite walls opened at once, revealing robot sentries which ran into the room, ready to attack. 

“Holy shit!” Pidge cried out, glancing up at the approaching soldiers before trying to type even faster. 

“Holy shit!” Keith called out too as he leapt forwards at the closest one, not wanting them to get too close to Pidge.

There may have been more cursing after that, but Hunk had a hard time hearing as he fired his blaster towards one of the doors, trying to knock down as many sentries as possible before they made it into the room. Glancing up though, Hunk saw that Lance wasn’t shooting at the other door, like he should be doing. Instead he was staring very intensely at something in the room below. Hunk paused in his shooting for a moment, about to yell at Lance to concentrate, but Lance started talking on the coms first.

Wait. Was he talking, or was he…

Oh quiznack.

“Why,” Lance asked, still staring below him, “when you see boys fight, does it look so horrible, yet,” he let out a deep sigh, “feel so right?”

“Oh no,” Hunk said, panicking. “Oh no oh no oh no oh _no_.”

Lance continued heedlessly on as even more sentries entered the room. “I shouldn’t watch this crap, that’s not who I am. But with this kid… daaaaamn.”

As Hunk stared at Lance, he followed his line of sight. Lance was very obviously staring at Keith.

“Lance!” Hunk tried calling out to him, hoping to break through. He let out a few more shots at the sentries still coming in through the doors. “Now is not the time, buddy! I really need you to concentrate here!”

Lance continued with his song, seeming to not hear Hunk’s words.

“Hey, mister no-name kid, so who might you be? And could you fight for me?” Lance slowly swayed in his spot as he sang the words. 

“Lance!” Hunk cried out, desperate, trying to aim at both ends of the room, but sentries kept sneaking through. Hunk’s weapon was meant for wide-sweeps, not precision; once the sentries got too close to Keith and Pidge Hunk couldn’t shoot at them, or risk hitting one of his friends. Lance could easily do it, but apparently he had other things on his mind. Keith had a constant stream of enemies, and was slashing them endlessly with his sword, all while Lance kept up with his song, not noticing the problem. 

“Hey, could you face the crowd? Could you be seen with me and still act proud? Hey, could you hold my hand? And could you carry me though no-man’s land?” Lance sighed while the clangs and clatter of the battle below echoed through the room. “It’s fine, if you don’t agree. But I would fight for you, if you would fight for me.”

“Dang it Lance, sing faster!” Hunk yelled at him, still trying his best with the sentries below. Almost as if to spite him Lance started singing slower, stretching out his words. Hunk knew it was part of the song, but still!

Lance was literally crooning, and Hunk couldn’t divert much attention to looking at him, but he could swear he saw Lance’s hands clasped together on his chest over his heart. “Let them drive us underground. I don’t care how far. You can set my broken bones, and I know CPR.”

“You might have to do it soon if you don’t start helping!” Hunk cried out, but with little hope of Lance registering him. And indeed, Lance continued acting like he couldn’t hear Hunk. Distantly Hunk wondered if Shiro and the others could hear Lance over the coms, or if it sounded like Hunk yelling at Lance for no reason.

At this point Keith was getting visibly tired, and the sentries, which had been approaching Keith one at a time, started attacking in waves of two or three at once. Keith was clearly overwhelmed, and his form started getting sloppy. As Hunk watched Keith’s sword was knocked out of his hands, and Keith had to defend himself with just his fists.

“Well, whoa, you can punch real good,” Lance sang, gaping in awe at Keith. “You lasted longer than I thought you would.”

“Such faith,” Hunk commented sarcastically. At least Lance was nearing the end of the song.

“So hey, mister no-name kid, if some night you’re free.” Lance was really stretching out his notes now. 

“Just hurry up and finish the dang song!” Hunk yelled at him, though he knew it wouldn’t do any good.

“Wanna fight for me?”

Hunk spared another glance at Lance. He couldn’t see Lance’s bayard at all; hopefully Lance had just dropped it somewhere next to him. Both of Lance’s hands were gripping the railing in front of him, though as Hunk watched one of his hands reached out dramatically, almost desperately, towards Keith. 

“If you’re still alive, I would fight for you, if you would fight for me!” Hunk had to give Lance this; he could really pull off a big finish.

“Holy shit.” Hunk sighed in relief as he heard Pidge curse again.

“Holy shit,” Keith gasped out. He had managed to pick up his bayard again, but Hunk could tell he was nearing the end of his rope. 

“Holy shit, holy shit!” Pidge and Keith sang out at the same time.

Finally, Hunk thought, it was over. “Lance!” he cried out to his friend. “Can you hear me now?”

“Of course I can hear you, Hunk,” said Lance, who seemed to have found his bayard. “Whoa!” he cried out suddenly. “When did all these sentries get here?”

Hunk groaned. “Never mind that, we need to help Keith!”

“Keith?” Lance asked, sounding confused. He looked down and upon spotting the red paladin, seemed to finally notice how much trouble he was in. “Keith!”

Immediately Lance aimed and started shooting at the sentries nearest Keith and Pidge. Hunk sighed in relief as the number surrounding the two slowly dwindled. 

“I’m in!” Pidge shouted. “Shutting down defenses… now!”

The attacking sentries all suddenly froze in their tracks, and in one motion all fell over at a straight 90 degree angle. If Hunk hadn’t been so full of an awful mix of adrenaline, anxiousness, and downright fear, he would have laughed.

Who was he kidding? He laughed anyway, though it was more from relief than comedy.

Shiro’s voice cut in through the coms. “Checking in. How is the mission going? Pidge, do you have your data?”

“One moment, Shiro… and… there, I’ve got it!”

“Great!” Hunk said relieved. “Let’s head out before anything else weird and life-threatening happens.”

“Seconded,” Keith gasped out, clearly winded, his hands on his knees. For a moment Hunk wondered if he was also talking about Lance’s song, but no, he was just referencing the endless stream of killer robots. 

Lance’s song, Hunk mused to himself as they finally made it back to the safety of their lions. Lance’s song…

“Holy shit!” Hunk cried out suddenly, almost bring Yellow to a complete halt. He immediately winced. Keith and Pidge’s chorus was still ringing in his ears; he normally didn’t like to curse.

The others knew this as well.

“Hunk!” Shiro immediately asked, his concern clear even over the coms. “What’s wrong?”

“Lance likes-!” Hunk shouted before snapping his mouth shut.

“Lance likes what?” Keith’s voice asked.

“Yeah, bro, Lance likes what?” Lance added.

“Um, er, nothing. It’s nothing! Never mind,” said Hunk, frantically trying to backtrack.

He knew no one was convinced, but they fortunately let it drop. “Hmm,” Shiro said. “Anyway, everyone get back to the castle as soon as possible, so we can start looking over the data Pidge recovered.”

Hunk put Yellow back into motion and mused to himself as the others congratulated each other on a successful mission over the coms.

So, Lance was in love with Keith. That… sort of made sense, in a preschool/pull-your-pigtails sort of way. Hunk never would have guessed it though; Lance must have kept those feelings very well hidden to fool even his best friend. Which he supposed made sense, the heart-songs were supposed to reveal things no one, not even the singer, fully knew of, according to Coran.

Oh quiznack! Hunk just barely managed to keep flying Yellow normally as he was hit with a second realization. That had been Lance’s heart-song! It had to be; it was a solo song about deep feelings no one else knew! He’d have to tell Coran.

One down, five to go!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> "Fight for Me" from Heathers


	4. Wherever They Are

“Lance!” Hunk called out a few minutes later, as soon as everyone was out of their lions and back in the hanger. “Can I talk with you about something for a second?” Hunk figured it would be better to tell Lance about his song and feelings right away; maybe he’d be able to help with keeping an eye on the others. It would be nice to have another ally in this. 

“Um, can it wait?” Lance asked, eyeing the others as they made their way towards the control room for the mission debrief. He looked up, and must have seen something in Hunk’s face, because he immediately changed his tone. “I mean, sure, we can talk! What’s up, bud?”

“It’s…” Hunk waited until he saw the others disappear behind the doors. “It’s… well… what do you think of Keith?” Man, Hunk had no idea how to go about this. 

“Of Keith?” Lance asked, seeming confused. Whatever he had been expecting, it probably wasn’t that. “You know what I think of him. He’s my rival. The biggest showoff/jerk I’ve ever met. And don’t get me started on that hair-”

“But, like, we’ve been working together closely for some time now,” Hunk stuttered out as he tried to think of how to phrase this. “You can’t hate him as much as you did back at the Garrison, not after all we’ve done together.”

“Well, yeah, I guess I hate him a little less than I used to,” Lance begrudgingly admitted. 

“But do you… like him?” Hunk wished he could think of a way to not make this awkward. Sadly, he could not.

“…I guess I like him as a teammate alright,” Lance muttered. 

“Like, like-like?”

“…what?” Lance looked confused. Hunk couldn’t blame him. “Look buddy, is there a point to this?”

“I know you have a crush on Keith!” Hunk shouted, and immediately regretted it.

Three things happened at once: Lance took a step back from Hunk, his face turned bright red, and his head whipped around to make sure no one else was there.

“Dude, what is wrong with you!?” Lance shouted at Hunk.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Hunk cried out, trying to reassure Lance. “I shouldn’t have said it like that-”

“You shouldn’t have said it at all!” Lance yelled. “I can’t believe you would accuse me of something like that!”

“I know, I know, I’m-wait, what?”

“Having a crush on Mullet-Boy,” Lance muttered. “I can’t think of anything so gross and vile in the entire universe!”

“But, Lance, you do have-”

“Nope!” Lance cried out, throwing his hands on his ears, turning away from Hunk and marching out the door. “I am done listening to you. Good day sir!”

“But Lance-”

“I said good day!” Lance shouted back at Hunk as he disappeared through the door, leaving Hunk alone in the big empty hanger. 

“Well,” Hunk said aloud to himself. “That could have gone better.”

The following debrief was, in a word, uncomfortable. Lance sat in his chair, arms crossed, decidedly not looking at Hunk or Keith. Pidge was seething: turns out that the ship had been a trap, and there was no useful information on it whatsoever. Keith still seemed a little out of it from the battle, though he insisted that he was physically fine and didn’t need a pod. And even though Shiro tried to smile and congratulate everyone on a successful mission, it was clear that not even he thought of it as a victory. 

“More like waste of time,” Pidge muttered before standing up and leaving. Hunk saw Allura start to nod in agreement before seeming to catch herself and stop.

Everyone split off after that, and Hunk couldn’t blame them. After all that, he felt like he needed a moment to process and calm down too. He figured he’d risk not watching the others for a bit, and go let Coran know that at least Lance was done with his singing.

 

~~~

 

“No, he’s not done with his singing,” Coran told Hunk about ten minutes later, after Hunk had found him doing repairs in the med bay and recounted everything that had happened on the ship.

“What do you mean!” Hunk cried out. “He has to be. That was definitely Lance’s heart-song!”

“I’m sure it was,” Coran agreed, who continued to tinker with one of the pods.

“Then why…?”

Coran turned away from the pod, setting down the tool he was using. He took a seat on a step and patted the spot next to him. After a moment Hunk joined him. Once he was seated Coran explained.

“Last night I was doing a bit more research on Obatnacians and mucitnacs, and I stumbled upon something I had forgotten about. After a heart-song is sung, there is one more song that an individual needs to sing before the ritual is completed. When the individual realizes what their deepest desire or secret is, then they sing a sort of conclusion-song; this is often about their acceptance of their secret, a possible solution for it, or their hopes moving forward. Lance didn’t sing any other song after you told him, did he?”

Hunk shook his head. “No.” 

“Then that means he either doesn’t believe you, or he is refusing to admit that it’s true, even to himself. He won’t be finished with his singing until he does.”

“Well, how do I get him to do that?” Hunk asked. “If he didn’t believe me before, he certainly won’t listen to me now that he’s mad at me!”

Coran gave Hunk a look that Hunk would describe as 1/4th pity, 3/4ths suck-it-up-buttercup. “Aren’t you his best friend, Number Two?”

Hunk sighed. “Yeah. Okay, I’ll see what I can do. This will not be easy, though. This boy is apparently the dictionary definition of repressed emotions.”

“Speaking of repressed emotions,” Hunk continued, thinking of something. “What about you, Coran? Caught yourself singing at all? Got any big feelings you want to reveal?”

“Well, actually, Number Two,” Coran said. He stood up a moment later, took a few steps until he was in the center of the room, and turned to face Hunk. He rose up tall, his chest puffed out, head held high, and a determined look on his face.

Alright, Hunk thought to himself. Time for Coran’s heart-song. At least I know he’ll believe me when I tell him. Coran held up one hand high in front of him, opened his mouth, and…

Hunk quickly covered his ears. Whatever that noise was, it was _not_ singing. Or maybe it was, but it didn’t sound like any singing Hunk had ever heard before. Coran’s voice rose and fell while he started to spin around the room dramatically, with an indescribable expression on his face, but the noise he was making sounded like nothing Hunk had ever heard before. There didn’t even seem to be a pattern to it: one second Coran would be making these deep grunting noises, the next it was some odd high-pitched clicking. The only consistency was that it was _loud_. 

Hunk watched open-mouthed as Coran spent the next few minutes “singing” away, dancing around the room. What emotion was he even portraying? Was that happiness? Sadness? Regret? Hope? Boredom? Hunk couldn’t even tell; Coran’s face kept changing to accommodate all the weird noises he was making.

Coran finally stopped, once again in the middle of the room, with both arms raised, head facing the ceiling. He slowly brought his arms down and shook his head. “I’m sorry Number Two, were you saying something?”

Hunk spoke quietly. “Coran,” he said with forced calm, “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“Coran, I would normally say that you had just sung a musical number, but,” Hunk took a breath, “Coran, you were not speaking English.”

“I never speak English. There are these translators in the castle-”

“Coran!” Hunk had enough of being calm. “You were kind of singing, but I couldn’t understand you! Was that your heart-song? Why weren’t you using words!?”

Coran looked like he now understood. “Oh. Well, often mucitnacs were traditionally more about feelings than actual words. As such they were sung in Ancient Altean, which is more about emotion and doesn’t really translate well to modern speech.”

“So that was Ancient Altean?” What a weird language, Hunk thought. But, more importantly, “Coran, if that was your heart-song, how am I supposed to tell you what it was about? I don’t speak Ancient Altean; I have no idea what you said!”

“Do not worry, Number Two.” Coran looked decidedly calmer than Hunk felt he should be in this situation. “I anticipated this problem, and took precautions.”

Coran reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a black cube. “I’ve been carrying this around to record myself, just in case I was singing while you weren’t around. If I was indeed singing just now, it has the whole song recorded. Once Allura finishes the ritual, she can listen to it and help me finish.”

Hunk sighed. “Always another catch.” He felt like he should be used to it by now. “But wait, could you listen to it now, and just hear yourself?” Man, Hunk thought, if this works he’s going to beat himself up for not thinking of such an easy solution.

“Let’s see,” Coran said. He did something with the cube, and suddenly Hunk had to fight to cover his ears again as Coran’s noises from earlier were broadcasted. 

Coran must have noticed the look on Hunk’s face. “I take it my song is playing?”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, trying not to wince. “Can you not hear that?”

“Unfortunately not.” Coran did something else with the cube and the noise stopped. “We used to try that on Altea, and we found the same thing: while an Altean, or likely human, is being affected by the fruit, they cannot hear their songs at all, not even on recordings.”

“Well, it was worth a shot.” Hunk said, disappointed that nothing could ever just be easy. “Thanks Coran. Keep that cube on you in case you sing anymore. I’m going to go find one of the others.”

“Good luck, Number Two,” Coran said, starting to get back to his repairs. Hunk nodded at him and went out the door.

Outside of the room though, Hunk hesitated, not sure of who to go to next. Should he try again to get Lance to believe his secret? Or should he be around one of the others to hear their songs? 

Or maybe, Hunk thought, there was a way to do both. 

A few minutes later, with a three-step plan fully formed in his mind, Hunk knocked on Lance’s door. “Hey, Lance, it’s me, open up.” 

Hunk could just barely make out Lance’s voice. “I don’t really want to talk to you right now bud.”

Hunk was prepared for this. “I’m worried about Pidge.”

About ten seconds passed before Lance opened the door. Huh, Hunk thought, two seconds longer than I expected. He must really be mad at me.

“What’s wrong with Pidge?” Lance asked concerned. Hunk could always count on Lance to put aside his own feelings to help someone else.

“Well, she seemed really upset about the mission being a bust,” Hunk said. 

“We all were,” Lance replied.

“I know, but she seemed _really_ upset,” Hunk stressed. When Lance still didn’t seem to be that worried Hunk added, “I think she was hoping to find information about her family on that ship.”

Was this a little too manipulative? Maybe. But, Hunk thought as he walked side-by-side with Lance down the hall towards Pidge’s room a few moments later, desperate times call for desperate measures. Step one, get Lance to go with him to Pidge, was complete. Now for step two: get Pidge to agree to hang out together.

When they made it to Pidge’s room Lance entered without even so much as knocking, causing Pidge to jump about a foot in the air before turning around and glaring at them. 

“What do you idiots want?” Pidge snapped at them, and as Hunk looked back he could see that her face was actually a bit red, almost like she had just been crying.

Oh, Hunk thought. Maybe his made-up excuse had been more accurate than he had thought. 

“We’re having a Garrison Trio night,” Lance declared, setting a bag of stuff he had brought with him from his room on Pidge’s bed before flopping onto it himself.

“Garrison Trio?” Pidge asked skeptically. “And get your dirty shoes off my bed.”

“Yeah, you know, you, me, and Hunk,” Lance said as he obediently moved his feet so they were hanging off the bed. “The first part of Voltron to ever partner up. We were a team long before we met the rest of these guys. And since we haven’t hung out together Three Musketeers style in a while, well, it’s about time we did!”

Pidge looked at Hunk, who was still standing in her doorway, a bit unsure of what her reaction was going to be. With a sigh Pidge jerked her head in, and Hunk gratefully stepped inside. Step two complete. Now all that was left was step three: get Pidge and/or Lance to admit to their hidden feelings. Easy-peasy.

Lance, it turned out, had brought with him various alien creams, powders, and other body-things that he had collected while in space (he picked up new alien cosmetics like Hunk picked up new alien food, as it turned out). Lance showed off his finds, explaining their various purposes. When he got to a jar he explained basically contained space-nail polish, he begged to paint Pidge’s nails. She, for her part, had threatened to taze him. After a fierce few minutes of negotiating it was decided that Lance could paint Pidge’s toenails if he also painted his and Hunk’s fingernails the color of Pidge’s choosing. Hunk wasn’t sure that he liked being brought into it, but he wasn’t going to complain.

Lance started on painting Hunk’s fingernails purple, while Pidge told them about a new device she had been working on that would hopefully help minimize the likelihood of them falling into another trap like today. Hunk was pretty sure Lance couldn’t understand most of what Pidge was saying (Hunk was pretty sure he himself was only getting about 3/4ths of it) but Lance played the part of nail salonist well, “hmming” and “hawing” and asking questions which would cause Pidge to rant about something enthusiastically for several minutes.

It was, Hunk thought, actually nice to hang out, just the three of them. He couldn’t remember them doing something like this at all since getting to space. And before space Pidge was often off doing her own thing, so it was possible this was the longest the three of them had ever hung out together before. Hunk almost wished it wasn’t a manipulation on his part to rid his friends of an alien spell; he’d have to remember to do this again with the other two once this whole situation was over.

After Hunk’s nails were done, Lance started on Pidge’s toes, claiming that it would be easier to do hers before his nails were wet. Pidge had chosen a forest-green color.

“You did a good job on the mission today, Pidge,” Lance said after a minute.

Pidge scoffed. “Yeah, fat lot of good that did. We’re still no closer to defeating Zarkon or finding…” her voice trailed off.

Hunk saw an opening. “You must really miss your family, huh?” Hunk suspected that Pidge’s heart-song would likely have to do with her missing her brother and father.

Pidge looked at him with a “well, duh,” expression. “Well, duh,” she said. ‘Of course I miss them. I worry about them all the time, and I just want to get them back safe.”

Hunk stared at her while Lance spoke words of reassurance, but that seemed to be all she had to say on that subject. Okay, maybe that wasn’t going to be the topic of her heart-song, not if she readily admitted to those feelings. What could it be then?

Lance finished with Pidge, and got to work on making his own nails pink. “Joke’s on you,” Lance laughed at Pidge. “My sisters already did the embarrass-me-with-girly-colors trick years ago. I’m immune!”

“Really?” Hunk asked, switching tactics to focus on Lance. “So you don’t care what anyone on the ship thinks of you?” 

“Nope!” Lance said, a little too forcefully. “Not a bit!”

“Would you care about what a crush thought of you?” Hunk knew he was pushing, but he felt it was a necessary risk.

Lance did not look up from his nails, but Hunk could see the frown on his face. He seemed to pick his next words carefully. “If I had a crush, which I do not, I would of course care about their thoughts of me. However, that doesn’t matter, since I haven’t crushed on anyone since Allura and I decided to just be friends.”

“Right, you both decided that,” Pidge teased. Lance turned his attention to her.

“Well, what about you, miss-smarty-pants? Do _you_ have any crushes you want to inform us about?”

Pidge looked at him flatly. “Lance, I’m asexual.”

Oh, Hunk thought. He hadn’t known that. Good to know. He was about to change the subject when Lance followed up with, “That’s not the same as being aromantic. You could be ace without being aro-ace.” At Pidge’s and Hunk’s surprised looks Lance explained, “My brother’s aro-ace. I was with him when he was figuring it out; I know all the terminology.”

“Well, no,” Pidge admitted a moment later. “I’m not aromantic.”

“Alright!” Lance said. “So, crushes! Any current? Any old? Spill the deets!”

“Don’t say deets,” Pidge said. She hesitated for a moment before admitting, “And I don’t really mess around with crushes.”

“Really?” Hunk asked. “Why is that?”

Pidge took a breath, looking like she was working up some courage, and spoke. “I stick with real things. Usually facts and figures. When information’s in its place I minimize the guessing game. Guess what?” she asked, looking at Lance and Hunk.

“What?” they said.

“I don’t like guessing games or when I feel things, before I know the feelings. How am I supposed to operate if I’m just tossed around by fate? Like, on an unexpected date?”

Pidge, who was sitting on her bed, starting kicking her legs back and forth while she seemed to get more and more riled up. 

“With a stranger who might talk too fast, or ask me questions about myself before I’ve decided that he can ask me questions about myself, he might sit too close, or call the waiter by his first name, or eat Oreos, but eat the cookie before the cream? But what scares me the most… what scares me the most…” Pidge got quiet and looked down towards the floor.

Wait, Hunk thought. I’ve heard this before…

Pidge looked back up, but not at Lance or Hunk; instead her eyes were distant, as if looking at something far-off, her expression more open and vulnerable than Hunk had ever seen it. “Is what if when he sees me, what if he doesn’t like it? What if he runs the other way and I can’t hide from it?” Pidge now looked at Lance and Hunk, her gaze sad and desperate. “What happens then? If when he knows me, he’s only disappointed? What if I give myself away, to only get it given back? I couldn’t live with that.”

“How could you live with that?” Lance softly crooned.

That’s it! This was another song! Hunk hadn’t realized at first, because Pidge was singing in a way that sounded a lot like talking, and also because this was a song Hunk didn’t know exceptionally well. But now that he was aware, he definitely recognized it.

Huh, he thought. This wasn’t at all what he expected Pidge’s song to be about. 

She continued on with her song, standing up and facing away from the others, her arms crossed.

“So I’m just fine, inside my shell-shaped mind, this way I get the best view. So that when he sees me, I want him to.”

Lance spoke. “Pidge, don’t you think you’re being a little, I mean maybe just a tad-“

“I’m not defensive!” Pidge said defensively, turning around and snapping at Lance. “I’m simply being cautious. I can’t risk reckless dating due to my miscalculating while a certain suitor stands in line. I’ve seen in movies, most made for television, you cannot be too careful when it comes to sharing your life. I could end up a miserable wife!” 

She looked at the two before she began pacing around the room. “Sorry, guys. But he could be criminal! Some sort of psychopath who escaped from an institution somewhere where they don’t have girls. He could have masterminded some way to find me. He could be colorblind! How untrustworthy is that, he could be less than kind.”

Pidge suddenly got a lot quieter. “Or even worse he could be very nice, have lovely eyes… and make me laugh… come out of hiding.” Pidge sighed. “What do I do with that?”

“Oh God, what if when he sees me, I like him and he knows it? What if he opens up a door and I can’t close it? What happens then, if when he holds me, my heart is set in motion? I’m not prepared for that, I’m scared of breaking open! But still I can’t help from hoping…”

“To find… someone… to talk to. Who likes… the way… I am.” Pidge’s voice was barely more than a whisper before suddenly rising to the loudest it had been for the whole song.

“Someone who when he sees me, wants to again!” She held the last note for much longer than Hunk would have expected from her.

A moment later when Pidge had sat down again Hunk thought about just straight out addressing what she had just revealed. But then he thought of what had happened with Lance. No, he needed to be smart with this. If he messed up with Pidge, she wouldn’t forgive him as quickly as Lance had (and Hunk wasn’t sure if he was totally forgiven there either).

While Lance and Pidge talked Hunk went through a mental checklist. So Lance, Pidge, and possibly Coran had sung their heart-songs. No one had resolved their issues yet or finished the ritual yet. And to the best of his knowledge Shiro, Keith, and Allura still needed to sing their songs.

Unless they were singing theirs right now, Hunk thought dejectedly. If only he could be in two places at once. Or if only Coran had more of those cubes…

Two seconds later Hunk felt like an idiot. “Hey, Pidge,” he said immediately. “Do you think I could borrow your laptop for a bit over the next few days? I need it for a… project I’m working on.”

Pidge seemed to debate with herself internally for about ten seconds, before acquiescing, “Fine. But you better not break it or mess with my stuff on it. And only while I’m sleeping anyway – that’s the only time I know I won’t need it.”

“So, for like an hour a day?” Lance teased.

Hunk ignored him, too happy that something was working out simply enough. “That’s good with me! Thanks, Pidge!”

Time, Hunk thought, for Operation: Leave No Song Left Unturned.

Eh, he’d think of a better name later. For now, he had some friends to spy on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> "When He Sees Me" from Waitress


	5. Sing to Bring You Back Again

Cameras. All this time Hunk had been stressing about keeping an eye on his friends, and he hadn’t thought of cameras. He blamed it on the stress and pressure he was under.

About an hour later after his revelation Pidge finally kicked him and Lance out of her room, saying that Hunk could come back in a few hours for her computer. In the hallway Lance left Hunk with hardly a few words. So he was still upset with him. Hunk hated that he felt that way.

But he couldn’t worry about that now (even though he was worried about it. A lot). He still needed to find out Shiro’s, Keith’s, and Allura’s songs, and he now had a plan with which to do so.

Fortunately, it was not that hard for him to gather the equipment he needed, and modify it enough for his purposes. Even though this was all alien equipment, it wasn’t like Pidge was the only techie on board: Hunk was an engineer, after all. So after about an hour and a half of tinkering he had about a dozen small camera-devices to place about the ship, which could pick up sound as well as see. He figured it was better to be safe than sorry: what if he couldn’t recognize a voice, or what if they portrayed different emotions with their face and body than the words of their songs implied? No, better to be able to see everything, in order to get the full effect. 

He decided to place them in the most likely areas the three un-sung would be in. The training room, the kitchen, the lounge, the hangers, the med bay, and the control room each got one. He thought about putting some in their rooms, but that was a privacy line even he wasn’t willing to cross. 

Oh, who was he kidding? Of course he tried, but each of those three had their doors locked (which was strange, he didn’t think Keith locked his). He settled for setting some up outside of their rooms: hopefully if the singing was loud enough they would still pick up the sound.

Hunk placed the leftover cameras in the most used hallways, just in case someone got the urge to sing while going from one place to another. 

Right after placing the last one he went back for Pidge’s laptop. She handed it to him somewhat reluctantly, threatening the lives of him and all his decedents if he so much as opened one of her files (which he admittedly might have done earlier if given the opportunity, but now that he had heard her song he didn’t feel the need to snoop so much with her right now). After several promises to be careful Pidge passed it over.

Hunk knew it was a risk using Pidge’s laptop for this, but he didn’t have any other technology that he could hook up with his cameras. _Maybe_ his lion, but to be honest he still wasn’t sure how that quite worked, and he’d rather work with something he was more familiar with for this. It would be a lot faster this way too.

It didn’t take Hunk too long to sync up his cameras so he could view them on the laptop. He did his best to hide it in there, but he knew if Pidge was determined it wouldn’t take her too long to find Hunk’s system. Hopefully she respected privacy a lot more than he did.

Alright, so the cameras were in place, recording in each of the rooms. Now he didn’t have to worry so much about always being near the others. He’d still try, of course, but now if they sang their song without him around he’d hopefully catch it and be able to listen to it later.

Yawning, Hunk dropped off Pidge’s laptop outside her door. The one flaw with this plan was having to work with Pidge’s sleep schedule: Lance had been pretty spot on earlier, that girl went to bed late and hardly slept, which was a lot different than Hunk’s early-to-bed, late-to-wake method. Oh well. For his friends, he’d risk being a little tired.

Didn’t stop him from yawning and almost dozing off all the next morning, though.

All throughout the next day Hunk tried his best to keep an eye on his friends, and when they did go off alone, tried to note where they were and at what time. He didn’t want to have to sort through every minute of all the hours of footage he was getting: if he could have some likely places to start looking, that would be good.

He concentrated his efforts on the three whose songs he still needed to hear. Unfortunately, these were the three he usually hung out with the least, so he really had to out of his way for reasons to be near them.

With Keith, he offered to train with him. Keith had looked surprised, but had fortunately agreed. Of course Keith had been a lot better than Hunk, but he had given him a couple of tips on how to use his size and strength to his advantage, with Hunk was grateful for. And though he tried his best to ask Keith questions about himself, all he got for his efforts were confused side-looks and one-word answers. Eventually Hunk was too physically exhausted to even speak. So that hadn’t quite worked out.

After Hunk had rested a bit and showered he went to find Shiro or Allura. He ran into both as they were leaving the control room. 

“Hey guys, how are you both doing?” Hunk asked them.

They glanced at each other. “We’re doing well, Hunk, thanks for asking,” Shiro responded.

“Good, good. That’s good,” Hunk said. 

The three stood in silence for a moment. 

"Nice nails," Allura commented.

"Oh, thanks," Hunk replied, glancing at his hands. "Lance did it."

"I see," Allura nodded.

There was another awkward silence.

“Well, see you later, Hunk,” Shiro said, staring to walk away. Allura nodded at Hunk and started to walk down the hall in the opposite direction as Shiro.

“Wait!” Hunk desperately called out. They both stopped and looked at him. Dang it, why was this so hard? Did he really not ever just talk with Allura or Shiro?

“Um… Allura, could you show me how to make some Altean food?”

“Coran would be a lot better at that than I would be,” Allura said.

“Yeah, but…” C’mon Hunk, think, he told himself. “He already tried, and well, you know how he can be with cooking.”

Hunk sighed in relief when Allura started nodding. “Yes, I know what you mean,” she said. “Alright, I can show you a couple of things I know.”

“Great! And, uh, Shiro!” Hunk cried out to his leader, who had started to walk away again. “Do you want to help give a second opinion on what tastes good for humans?”

“No, that’s alright Hunk,” Shiro said. He chuckled a bit. “I’m pretty confident on my opinions on Altean food. You two have fun.” With that he turned and walked away.

Hunk looked back at Allura, who was looking at Shiro with a small frown on her face, but she quickly smiled when she saw Hunk looking. “Shall we be on our way, Hunk?”

“…sure,” he said. He really would have liked to keep those two in the same spot, but he was out of ideas. Hopefully if Shiro, or Keith, did anything during this time his cameras would catch it.

The next couple of hours cooking with Allura yielded mixed results. On one hand, no singing occurred, which was a disappointment. On the other hand, Hunk had never hung out alone with Allura before, and he found that he was actually enjoying himself. Allura really only knew how to make a couple of dishes, but she was willing to show Hunk what she knew, and, more importantly, was willing try anything to see if it worked. While they cooked they shared a couple of their favorite “meal-memories.” Hunk talked about Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with his family. Allura explained that they had similar banquets for birthdays of the royal family on Altea, and had reminisced about some of her favorite dishes from those. 

The entire atmosphere for their conversation was calm and relaxed, and though Hunk wasn’t sure that the dish they had made was exactly how it should be, it was at least edible for both him and Allura, and he figured with a little more practice they could perfect it. Allura even agreed to help him again sometime.

So, no songs, but still enjoyable. A mixed bag.

Hunk went to his room to sleep earlier than usual that night, hoping to get a couple of hours in before going to Pidge. Lying in bed though he got wrapped up in his worries about the whole crazy situation going on, and only just managed to doze a bit before his alarm, which he had set for about 2 am(ish. Castle time) went off. 

Pidge handed over her laptop without much fuss, and Hunk took it back to his room. The cameras had worked perfectly, thank goodness. He had way more hours of footage than he could possibly watch before morning. 

Figuring he’d just start with the most likely area, go room by room, and try to fast-forward till he saw one of the others in there, he got started.

A few hours in he started to get discouraged. He had managed to skim all of the footage from the lounge, training room, and kitchen, and nothing. Annoyed, worried, and tired, he clicked on the footage for the control room.

It looked like it had been empty for most of the day, which Hunk wasn’t surprised by: it had been a slow day, no attacks, no rescues, no need for a sudden escape. 

But wait, what was this? Hunk stopped the video as he saw two figures seem to speed into the room. Looking close he saw it was Allura and Shiro. That’s right, he had seen those two leave this room earlier. Might as well slow down the footage and see what they had been up to.

Hunk backed up the recording until right before they entered. Playing, this time at normal speed, he saw that Allura entered first, and seemed to wait around until Shiro entered a minute later.

“You’re late,” Allura said. The sound was picking up pretty nice; a little static-y, but mostly clear. Hunk was glad.

“Sorry,” Shiro said. “Ran into Coran on the way. Had to make an excuse about needing to check on Keith.”

Hunk frowned. Why would Shiro need an excuse? What were these two doing?

“Have you thought any more about what we discussed?” Allura asked. 

Shiro nodded. “I have. Have you?”

“I have.” 

Hunk was so confused. What were these two talking about?

“And?” Shiro asked after a moment.

Allura took a step back from him and looked away. “It’s a bad idea, me and you.”

Shiro nodded. “I know, I totally agree.”

“It’s a bad idea, me and you,” they both spoke at the same time.

Shiro spoke again. “I’ve never known anything so true.”

“It’s a terrible idea, me and you,” they said, again in unison.

Hunk stared at the screen, eyes wide, realizing what was happening. “Oh my God,” he whispered to himself.

Allura looked back at Shiro and started moving towards him. “You are a human.”

Shiro began to walk forwards towards her. “You’re an Altean.”

“You are my paladin!” Allura cried.

Shiro threw his hands up in the air. “We’re in a war with Zarkon!”

Once again the two spoke at the same time: “It's a bad idea, me and you.” Suddenly, now only a foot apart from each other, they both reached out, grasping the other.

“Let's just keep kissing ‘til we come to!” 

Hunk almost fell out of his seat. The two didn’t kiss (thank goodness for Hunk’s poor heart); instead they each pushed each other away at the same time, turning around and walking a few paces away from each other.

They each sang together, “Heart, stop racing. Let's face it, making mistakes like this will make worse what was already pretty bad. Mind, stop running, it's time we just let this thing go.”

As one they turned, looked over their shoulders, and smiled softly. “It was a pretty good bad idea, wasn't it though?”

Hunk knew he could, and maybe should, stop watching now; he knew how the rest of the song went. But he was still pretty shocked at what this meant, and a little curious as to how this would play out.

The two sang again, repeating themselves. “It's a bad idea, me and you. It's a bad idea, me and you. Hold me close while I think this through.” Sure enough they had made it back to each other’s arms.

A moment later they stepped apart again. “Yeah, it's a very poor idea, me and you.”

They repeated the chorus, going through the same motions as before. However, was Hunk seeing things, or were they standing a lot closer together this time? And it didn’t look like either was looking away, but instead they each kept staring right at the other.

They sang together again. “I know it's right for me. It's the only thing-”

“I've ever done,” sang out Shiro, followed immediately by Allura repeating the line, before singing as one again.

“What if I never see myself ever be anything more than what I've already become?”

Allura, stepping closer to Shiro, seeming to make up her mind, singing “I need a bad idea, I need a bad idea.”

Shiro joined in, moving towards her. “I need a bad idea, I need a bad idea. Just one…”

They grasped each other again. “Heart, keep racing. Let's make mistakes. Let us say ‘so what?’ and make worse what was already pretty bad. This secret is safe, no reason to throw it away, when there's love to be had."

“Hold me tight as I tell myself that you might make sense, and make good what has been just so bad. Let's see this through. It's a pretty good bad idea…”

Shiro’s hand gently cupped Allura’s chin, and tipping it up, he passionately sang “Me and you.”

Allura, smiling, repeated, “Me and you,” drawing out the last note with Shiro.

That note did not fade away so much as it was cut off by Shiro and Allura’s lips finally meeting in a kiss.

Alright, Hunk thought, _now_ it would probably be inappropriate to continue watching. However, the kiss ended a moment later before he had a chance to stop the recording. Both Shiro and Allura just stood there for several moments, long enough that Hunk debated fast forwarding. Soon, though, the two stepped back from each other, Shiro giving one last caress to Allura’s face. Sighing and looking a little sad, they both turned and went out the door. Just as they exited Hunk thought he could hear his own voice before the door closed. 

Geez, those two had been doing _that_ right before he ran into them! 

Thinking about what he had just seen, Hunk felt pretty confident that had been both Shiro’s and Allura’s heart-song. He’d have to double check with Coran, but Coran hadn’t said it was impossible for two people to have the same song, just unlikely. Still, Hunk felt that the material of that last song had been personal and private enough to count.

In the same place on the laptop where he had stored the camera footage, he created a document, just so he could get his thoughts of what he now knew organized.

He mentally went through and jotted down his knowledge: everyone but Keith (and possibly Coran) had sung their heart-song. Lance was in love with, or at least was crushing on, Keith. Pidge had a lot of worries about future romantic relationships. Shiro and Allura both wanted a romantic relationship with each other, but felt it would be wrong to be in one. He still had no idea what Coran wanted.

Not to mention he still had no idea how to address these topics with anyone. Maybe he’d ask Coran about that too; he might at least have some idea of how to talk to Allura.

Until he figured that out, at least he could focus all of his efforts on trying to hear Keith’s song. Hunk wasn’t surprised that he was the last one; he didn’t exactly seem like the musical/singing/deep feeling type. Still, he wouldn’t have thought that of any of the others (except maybe Lance), yet here they were. 

Hopefully Keith would sing his song quickly, and they could put this whole mess behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> "Bad Idea" from Waitress


	6. Or to Take You Away

Apparently Hunk was doomed to a life of failure and disappointment.

Overreacting? Maybe. But it had been almost a week with little progress, and Hunk was nearing the end of his patience.

No matter what Hunk tried, it seemed that Keith just did not want to sing his heart-song. Hunk had been putting all of his focus on him, and he was getting nowhere. He had yet to talk to the others about their songs, because his original plan had been to wait until Keith had sung his song, and then focus on talking to everyone else. Now, with Keith’s apparent resistance to singing, he was thinking he might have to change his strategy.

During the day Hunk was spending as much time as he could with Keith. And while Keith never told him to leave, Hunk could tell that he was starting to get weirded out by all the attention. And there were only so many times Hunk was physically capable of joining Keith for training. When he couldn’t be near Keith for some reason, he took note of Keith’s location at various times, and at night Hunk checked those times and locations for any singing, but so far there was nothing. Fortunately they hadn’t had to go on any missions lately, so Hunk only had to keep an eye on Keith around the ship.

Still, Hunk knew this couldn’t continue. Spending all his time during the day spying on Keith, staying up all night to check and double check the recordings… he was just too tired for this to go on much longer. 

It got to the point that when Coran next came to talk to him, he found him in the kitchen, about to nod off on top of the hot stove. 

“So how goes it, Number Two?” Coran asked Hunk after he had pulled Hunk away, turned off the stove, and sat him down at the table.

“Not great, Coran,” Hunk admitted tiredly, while letting off a huge yawn. “Sorry. I’m just… so tired.”

“Yes, I imagine the stress from the pressure you’re under must be tiring,” Coran said sympathetically.

“It’s not that,” Hunk said, still fighting to remain awake. “Well, not just that.”

He explained about his current situation with the cameras and Pidge’s laptop, realizing he had forgotten to tell Coran about that plan before.

“Ingenious!” Coran congratulated Hunk. “I never would have thought of using cameras like the ones we have in the training room in other parts of the castle to watch for the paladin’s songs. Good job, Number Two.”

“Thanks Coran,” Hunk smiled at him, yawning again. He figured he was about 40% awake at this point. “And I’ve already seen Allura’s and Shiro’s heart-song – it’s possible for two people to sing theirs together, right?”

“Indeed it is, though that usually only happens in very specific circumstances,” Coran said, looking at Hunk suspiciously. “What was their song about?”

Hunk didn’t like the look Coran was giving him. “I’ll, erm, tell you later,” he stuttered out before changing the subject. “The point is, now all that’s left is Keith. I’ve tried everything, watched his every movement, but he is just not singing his heart-song.”

“That’s odd,” Coran said, sounding worried. “It has never taken this long after eating the fruit for one to sing their heart-song before.”

“So that’s it then? We missed it?” Hunk asked, defeated. He didn’t know what else he could do, or could have done. He had stuck uncomfortably close to Keith this past week, and he could account for what he was doing during every minute because of his cameras. If Keith had sung it before the cameras were set up, during a time when Hunk wasn’t near him, then Hunk had no way of knowing what his song was about, and he would be stuck like this forever. Unless…

“Coran,” Hunk said slowly, his brain taking longer to process than normal. “Earlier… did you say the training room has cameras?”

“It does,” Coran said nodding. “They were set up so that beings who use the room could later take notes on how they were doing.”

“Can we access that footage?” Hunk asked.

“We should be able to,” Coran agreed. “May I ask what you’re thinking?”

“If Keith sang his song already, it would have had to have been before I put my cameras up, since I haven’t caught it. Or it happened in a weird part of the castle, but I’ve spent the past week learning everything about Keith’s habits, and he hardly ever wanders off away from the main areas. The one place his spends more time in than any other is the training room. If he’s already sung his heart-song…”

“Then the training room cameras will have caught it!” Coran finished. “Oh, well done Hunk.”

“There’s no guarantee this’ll work,” Hunk said, standing up determinedly, a good 75% awake now. “But it’s our last chance.”

 

~~~

 

That night, instead of going to Pidge’s room for her laptop, Hunk went to the observation room above the training room, where Coran said the footage from the training room cameras was stored. Hunk had wanted to go earlier in the day, but knew he had to wait until there was zero possibility of any of the others going in there (i.e., Keith).

Alright, Hunk thought to himself once he had the footage pulled up. Now all he had to do was go through all the footage between the time they got back from the planet where they had eaten the fruit that caused this mess and when Hunk put up his own cameras (since he’d checked those times already). Yawning, Hunk took a sip of the space-coffee he had made to try and stay awake, clicked on the appropriate day, and settled in to watch.

Hunk fast-forwarded through the hours in which Keith wasn’t in the room. Once it hit the evening of the day of their return from the planet, Keith entered the room. Hunk slowed the video, and made sure the sound was on. He doubted Keith’s song was going to happen so early, but he had to make sure.

The next hour was spent watching Keith train by himself. Hunk had to keep pinching himself to stay awake as he kept almost falling asleep and then jerking awake. 

He was debating fast forwarding it again, as it seemed Keith was doing nothing but training right now, when he saw Lance, Pidge, and himself walk into the room. Oh yeah, he had forgotten about this.

“Hey Keith!” Lance shouted, distracting Keith long enough for the training robot he was fighting to hit him hard in the side.

“Training simulation off,” Keith grunted out. The bot disappeared as Keith turned around, holding his side. “What, Lance?”

“We were gonna chill for a bit with Shiro, Allura, and Coran, and wanted to know if you wanted to join us,” Lance said. He spoke like it was not a big deal, but Hunk could see him tapping his fingertips like he did when he was nervous.

Keith hesitated, but then said, “I’m in the middle of something,” gesturing behind him at the room.

“Okay, see you later then,” Pidge said, immediately turning around and walking towards the door.

“Are you sure, Keith?” Hunk asked. “It could be fun.”

“Yeah Keith, you train all the time, come have fun with us for once!” Lance pressed.

“I’d rather stay here,” Keith said again.

“If you’re sure,” Hunk said shrugging as he turned to follow Pidge. “See you later, Keith.”

Lance kept pushing. “Why don’t you ever want to hang out with us, Keith?” he said, sounding mad. “Do you really hate us that much that you’d rather be alone all the time than be with me-us, I mean?” Lance said, quickly correcting himself. (Wow, Hunk was ashamed at himself for not realizing Lance’s crush before. It was so obvious.)

“No, Lance, it’s just-,” Keith started to say, but he cut himself off and just stood there in silence for a few seconds.

“C’mon, Lance,” Pidge called out to him; she and Hunk were at the exit now. “If he doesn’t want to come, he doesn’t have to.”

“Fine,” Lance said angrily, giving up and throwing up his arms as he walked away. “Fine. Be the loner you clearly want to be!”

“Who would want to hang out with a jerk like you anyway?” were Lance’s last words before he left the room.

Oh man, Hunk thought to himself. He had completely forgotten about that interaction, what with everything else going on. He remembered now though – afterwards, Lance had been too worked up to be any fun to hang out with, and everyone else had gone off to do their only thing not even an hour later. That was one of the reasons Hunk had wanted to make the space-pancakes so soon, to try and brighten everyone’s moods after that fiasco. 

Keith on screen let out a sigh, and turned back around, facing away from the door. Hunk was surprised to see that he look really upset.

Hunk watched Keith seemed to wrestle with himself. He took a few steps back towards the closed door, stopped, and turned back around groaning.

“Stupid,” Keith muttered to himself. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” 

He let out a deep sigh. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder at the door.

“I've learned to slam on the brake,” he said quietly, “before I even turn the key. Before I make the mistake… before I lead with the worst of me.” He turned fully back towards the door.

“Give them no reason to stare. No slipping up if you slip away.” He looked down at the ground.

“So I got nothing to share. No, I got nothing to say.”

Keith took a step backwards. “Step out, step out of the sun, if you keep getting burned.” He took another step back. 

“Step out, step out of the sun, because you've learned, because you've learned…”

Keith had on a look that was one part longing and one part forlorn. “On the outside, always looking in, will I ever be more than I've always been? ‘Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass.” He let out one hand towards the door. “I'm waving through a window.”

“I try to speak, but nobody can hear, so I wait around for an answer to appear, while I'm watch, watch, watching people pass. I'm waving through a window, oh, can anybody see, is anybody waving back at me?”

Keith turned around forcefully and marched back over to the gladiator area, quickly saying the words to make one appear. When it did he moved forward to attack it while continuing with his song.

“We start with stars in our eyes,” he sang while rushing forward. “We start believing that we belong.”

“But every sun doesn't rise,” he belted while he stabbed the bot, making it disappear. “And no one tells you where you went wrong!” 

Two more bots appeared. Keith rushed forward to meet them, repeating his chorus. “Step out, step out of the sun, if you keep getting burned. Step out, step out of the sun, because you've learned, because you've learned…” 

Three bots this time. Keith spun and attacked them with passion and vigor as he sang with the same traits. “On the outside, always looking in, will I ever be more than I've always been? 'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass,” Keith hit the bots to the tune of his song, “waving through a window. I try to speak, but nobody can hear, so I wait around for an answer to appear, while I'm watch, watch, watching people pass. Waving through a window, oh. Can anybody see, is anybody waving?” 

Keith had perhaps been too caught up in his song, and as he sang the last line he had stopped fighting the bots for a moment, looking desperately up towards the ceiling, arms spread wide. An easy target, as it turned out, as two bots hit him in quick succession, right after the other. Keith was knocked to the ground, but fortunately was able to end the training sequence before they could attack any further.

He lay there gasping. After a moment he spoke quietly.

“When you're falling in a forest, and there's nobody around, do you ever really crash, or even make a sound? When you're falling in a forest, and there's nobody around, do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?”

He started to stand back up, and repeated himself louder. “When you're falling in a forest, and there's nobody around, do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?”

Now he was practically yelling. “When you're falling in a forest, and there's nobody around, do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?”

He started pacing back and forth rapidly, towards the door, then away from it again, as he clutched his head, his bayard discarded on the ground. His words came fast and frantic. “Did I even make a sound? Did I even make a sound? It's like I never made a sound. Will I ever make a sound?” He whispered the last line, so soft Hunk could barely hear it, before belting out the chorus again.

“On the outside, always looking in, will I ever be more than I've always been? 'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass, waving through a window. I try to speak, but nobody can hear, so I wait around for an answer to appear, while I'm watch, watch, watching people pass. Waving through a window, oh. Can anybody see, is anybody waving back at me?”

“Is anybody waving?” Keith sang with more passion than Hunk had ever heard from him. “Waving, waving, whoa-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh.” Keith’s voice trailed off. 

He gave one last look towards the door before picking up and activating his bayard again. “Begin training level five,” he commanded, his voice shaking only a little.

With gusto he began to attack the bots that appeared. Hunk watched for a few minutes more, but it seemed clear that Keith was done singing.

Hunk turned off the recording, and just sat in silence for a minute, processing.

“Oh, Keith,” Hunk sighed. He had had no idea that Keith felt so left out. He thought Keith liked being alone. Turns out he secretly wanted to be with the others, but maybe just didn’t know how, or was worried about doing something wrong, so he stopped himself before even trying. Hunk felt bad for not insisting that he join them the times they hung out without him. 

On the plus side, he had now heard everyone’s songs. Hunk felt a great relief wash over him, followed by a wave of tiredness. Yawning, he slowly turned off the cameras and stumbled back to his room. He flopped on his bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes. First thing in the morning he’d talk with Coran about how to convince everyone of their secrets. But now was the time for sleep.

Hunk woke up later than normal. He still felt pretty tired, so he was grateful that Allura and Shiro had let everyone sleep in today. Normally they made everyone get up before now.

Yawning and half-awake, Hunk started towards the kitchen, hoping he’d have enough time to make something besides food goo for breakfast. 

As he passed by the lounge, he heard the sounds of talking, though he couldn’t make out the words. Curious, he decided to stop in to say good morning, maybe ask if anyone else wanted breakfast. However, as soon as he entered the room the talking suddenly stopped.

Hunk looked and saw everyone seated on the couches, including all of the other paladins, plus Coran and Allura. And was it just Hunk, or did everyone look rather angry? Well, everyone but Coran, who looked apologetic for some reason.

“Hunk,” Shiro said in his stern leader voice that he usually reserved for when one of them messed up badly on a mission. “We need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> "Waving Through a Window” from Dear Evan Hansen


	7. Sing a Song for Me, My Friend

“What’s wrong?” Hunk asked nervously, feeling uncomfortable in the face of everyone’s scrutiny. 

“What’s wrong?” Lance repeated. “How about we start with how you’ve been avoiding us all week?”

Hunk knew that he hadn’t been spending as much time with the others recently, but he hadn’t realized they’d noticed.

“Or how about how you’ve been weirdly obsessed with Keith lately?” Lance continued.

“I don’t mind hanging out with you,” Keith said before Hunk could speak. “But the stares and constant attention has been a bit much.”

“I-” Hunk started to say, but he couldn’t think of any words to defend himself.

“You’ve been acting distracting all the time,” Allura said. “I don’t think you’ve been able to focus on anything we’ve told you at all recently!”

“Not to mention that lately you seem tired all the time,” Shiro continued. “It’s starting to affect your performance in training. Have you even been sleeping?”

“But this,” Pidge said, sounding even angrier than all the others. She gestured to her laptop, which she had apparently brought into the room. “This is just sick.”

“Pidge found your recordings,” Allura said disapprovingly. “Hunk, did you put up cameras around the ship?”

Hunk stammered out, “Well, yes, but I-” 

“Why the heck would you do that?” Pidge interrupted. “That’s so gross!”

“Yeah, man, that’s really not cool,” Lance said.

“Now, paladins, I’m sure he had a reason…” Coran started to protest. Good old Coran, Hunk thought dazedly. 

But even he wasn’t enough to stop the others’ fury. “I don’t care,” Keith said, crossing his arms. “It’s a complete invasion of our privacy.”

“A team is built on trust,” Shiro said to Hunk, sounding more disappointed than Hunk had ever heard from him before. “Trust that you’ve just broken.”

“Seriously, Hunk,” Lance asked angrily. “What is wrong with you?”

Hunk looked around at all of their disapproving and/or glaring faces (all except Coran, who looked like he wanted to say something more but didn’t know how). Hunk stood there frozen for about three seconds.

Then he decided that he was done.

“No!” he shouted, making them all jump. “What is wrong with _you_ guys? I know what’s happening isn’t your faults, but maybe if you all were just open and honest with each other and yourselves from the start we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

“Hunk-” Pidge started to say.

“No, Pidge, you listen to me now,” Hunk snapped at her. He forced himself to lower his voice and tried to sound calmer. “Pidge, I know you’re scared about being with someone romantically. I know you’re scared about what could go wrong; I know you’re scared the perfect relationship will never happen.” 

Pidge looked shocked while Hunk talked. She started to say something, but Hunk continued on, “And maybe it won’t! Or maybe it will! Who knows: we’re out in space, for crying out loud! Who knows what will happen, or who you’ll meet!”

“But Pidge,” Hunk pressed on, trying to put enough insistence behind his words that she would believe them. “Even if you don’t meet someone who likes you that way, or who you like that way, it’s okay! You’re Pidge frickin’ Gunderson, for crying out loud! You forged your way into the Garrison! You’re like the smartest person I know! You pilot the green lion as a defender of the universe, for goodness sakes! You are awesome, and not being with someone does not make you less awesome! You’re plenty amazing, just by yourself.”

Pidge had gone quiet during Hunk’s rant, staring at him open-mouthed. The other’s had similar looks on their faces. For a moment after Hunk finished talking the only sound that could be heard was his own slightly-heavy breathing. Then Pidge started to speak quietly.

“One thing I know,” she whispered, looking at Hunk. “And I've always known… I am my own best friend.”

“Baby's alive,” she continued before looking down, definitely singing now. “But baby's alone. And baby's her own best friend,” she said to herself.

Pidge looked up at the others, and sang like she was admitting something to them. “Many's the kind who told me he cares, but they were scratchin' my back 'cause I was scratchin' theirs...”

“And trusting too; that's only for fools.” She started to sound more determined now. “I play the game when I make the rules. And rule number one, from here to the end, is I am my own best friend.”

“I am my own best friend!” She declared confidently. “Baby's her own best friend!”

Pidge stood up, looking out at them all assuredly. “Three musketeers, who never said die, are standing here this minute: Me, myself, and I...”

Pidge stepped up onto the couch where she had been sitting, and sang out triumphantly to the group. “Life is a school, I'll pass every test! If life is a game, I'll play it the best! 'Cause I won't give in, and I'll never bend, and I am my own - best - frie-iend...!”

Pidge held the last note for an impressively long time, and stood with her arms raised in victory for a moment before slowly lowering them. 

“Um…” she said slowly, looking around where she was standing on the couch. “What just happened?”

“Finally!” Hunk sighed, relieved. “One down.”

“What?” Keith asked. “What happened?” Hunk turned quickly to him, determined to keep the ball rolling.

“Keith!” Hunk called out, pointing at him. “I know you’re scared of being with others! You want to join us but you don’t know how! But I promise you that you’re worth it, and that we want you around! Especially Lance!”

“Hunk, what are you-” Lance started to ask, but Hunk cut him off.

“Nope!” he said firmly. “You had your chance to do this on your own terms, now it’s Hunk’s turn. Keith,” Hunk said turning his attention back to him. “Lance likes you. As in like-likes you.”

“As in has a crush on you!” he added when Keith looked confused. “And Lance, you know you do, don’t you dare deny it!”

“What!?” Lance cried out, his voice unusually high as Keith and the others all turned to look at him. “He’s crazy! I don’t know what he’s talking about!”

“You’re my rival!” Lance addressed Keith as Keith kept staring. “I could never have a crush on you!”

“And even if I did, it’s not like it would be a big one!” Lance continued as Keith got up and slowly walked towards him, his gaze unwavering. “It’s not like I lay awake at night thinking about you! I just miss you when you’re not around, I think about you all the time, and I imagine us one day running towards each other in slow motion and I’m wearing a brown suede vest. But I’m not in love with you!”

“And even if I were,” Lance continued desperately as Keith continued towards him without faltering. “It’s not like it would matter. Cause you’re so, so, you, and I’m just, just, me.” Keith was right in front of Lance now. Lance looked up at him sadly. “Why would you want me?”

Slowly, Keith reached down and gently grabbed Lance’s hands.

“I don't need you to sell me on reasons to want you,” Keith softly sang to Lance as Lance stared up at him, his eyes shining. “I don't need you to search for the proof that I should. You don't have to convince me. You don't have to be scared you're not enough. Cause what we've got going is good.”

“What is he doing?” Pidge started to ask, but Hunk quickly shushed her.

Gently, Keith pulled Lance up so they were both standing, Lance looking like he was in total disbelief. Keith continued to sing to him. “I don't need more reminders of all that's been broken. I don't need you to fix what I'd rather forget. Clear the slate and start over, try to quiet the noises in your head. We can't compete with all that.”

Keith smiled at Lance with a look more gentle than Hunk had ever seen on his face. “So what if it's us? What if it's us, and only us? And what came before won't count anymore or matter? Can we try that?” he asked Lance.

“What if it's you, and what if it's me, and what if that's all that we need it to be? And the rest of the world falls away?” Keith’s voice, which had been rising, fell to a whisper on the last two words.

“What do you say?” he softly asked, only now looking nervous.

Lance, with tears flowing freely down his cheeks, let out a soft laugh. “I never thought there'd be someone like you who would want me,” he sang.

“Well...?” Keith asked, after a short pause.

Lance replied as he wiped away his tears. “So I give you ten thousand reasons to not let me go. But if you really see me, if you like me for me and nothing else… well, that's all that I've wanted for longer that you could possibly know!”

Lance stood up, taking a firm hold of Keith’s hands. “So it can be us! It can be us, and only us! And what came before won't count anymore or matter! We can try that.”

The two sang in unison, “It's not so impossible.”

“Nobody else but the two of us here,” Lance sang. (“But we’re here,” Pidge started to say before Hunk shushed her again.)

“Cause you're saying it's possible,” Lance and Keith sang together again.

Keith sang out passionately, “We can just watch the whole world disappear.”

“Til you're the only one I still know how to see.” They stretched out every syllable of that lyric.

“It's just you and me,” Lance sang (impressive that he could sing with a smile that large).

Keith, with a matching smile, continued, “It'll be us. It'll be us, and only us. And what came before won't count anymore!”

Together they declared, “We can try that! You and me, that's all that we need it to be! And the rest of the world falls away. And the rest of the world falls away.”

Their words were softer now, but their gazes were, if anything, more intense. “The world falls away. The world falls away.”

They slowly started to lean into each other. “And it's only us.”

For a moment it looked like they were going to kiss. Instead, they embraced each other, heads resting on each other’s shoulders, eyes closed, looking utterly peaceful and content. Each of them stayed that way, just holding the other firmly, as if afraid to let go.

Hunk, who had tears in his eyes, whispered, “Awww…” Even Pidge sounded a little emotional as she whispered, “Saps.”

At the noise Lance and Keith opened their eyes and slowly stepped apart (though Hunk noted that they still kept one hand clasped firmly in the other’s).

“Um, what just happened?” Lance asked, sounding dazed.

“That’s what I’d like to know!” Pidge said. “Why were you two singing?”

“We were singing?” Keith asked, rubbing his head with his free hand.

“Wait, what’s happening?” Shiro asked, looking around at everyone.

“I’m very confused,” Allura added.

Coran said nothing, but he had a knowing smile on his face.

Hunk turned and looked between Shiro and Allura, full of determination, practically wringing his hands like a supervillain. “Your turn,” he said, and it must have sounded intimidating because both Allura and Shiro leaned away from him.

“You two!” Hunk said, pointing at each of them. “If you two are in love, or want to start dating, or whatever, then just do it! Life is too short to stay apart from the one you like. And with our choice of occupation, who knows how long we have!”

“Besides,” he added, glancing at Keith and Lance, hands still clasped. “It’s not like you’ll be the only couple on the ship!” He turned back to his leaders. “So if you want to be together, be together! You have our full support!”

Shiro and Allura, who had been sitting on opposite sides of the room, and who had been looking steadily more embarrassed while Hunk talked, finally met each other’s eyes.

Shiro spoke first. “Hearts keep racing…” he offered.

Allura gave him a small smile and added, “You’re no mistaking….”

Shiro stood up and started to move towards her. “We can’t come back from this,” he warned.

Allura was moving towards him too. “Good, cause I want more of what I had!”

“It feels so good to…” Shiro was only a few steps away.

“Feels so good…” Allura added, in arms reach.

They grasped each other. “To be bad,” they sang. “To be bad.” They kissed, and it was adorable.

They broke apart, and sang to each other, “Take this bad idea and walk this wire.”

Keith and Lance added, looking at one another, “Throw your spark into oil and fire.”

Hunk, smiling, thought what the heck, and joined the next line. “Chance won’t come every single day, so don’t throw it away,” he and Pidge sang, each looking out at the couples in front of them.

“Don’t throw it away!” they all sung out together loudly (apart from Coran, who was still just quietly sitting there). 

Allura and Shiro sang the next part alone. “We might burn but we might get saved, I don’t feel much fire at all these days.”

Together, everyone sang, “Feels so good to, feels so good to be bad!” They stretched out the last note, and when it finished, Allura and Shiro were again in each other’s arms, and Lance and Keith were in one another’s. Hunk had his arms raised in success, and Pidge was looking panicked.

“Wait,” Shiro said, blinking and looking around. “What just happened?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Pidge exclaimed. “Why were you two singing like that? More importantly, why was _I_ singing like that?” she added.

“We were singing?” Allura asked, looking at Shiro.

“Not just you,” Keith said. He looked worried too. “Lance, why were we singing?”

“Was that Waitress?” Lance asked. “Why were we singing showtunes?”

“Oh, well done, Hunk,” Coran said, going over to Hunk and enveloping him in a huge hug. “It would seem they’re cured!”

Hunk laughed. “It would seem so, Coran.”

“Wait, Coran, Hunk, do you know something about this?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah guys, what’s going on?” Pidge demanded.

Hunk couldn’t stop smiling, he was filled with such relief. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that,” he told them. He started to walk towards the door. 

“C’mon,” he said determinedly. “Let’s go to the kitchen. I’ll make celebratory cake, and Coran and I will explain everything.”

“Oh, and Pidge,” he added, turning around. He was glad to see that while everyone still looked confused, they were all moving to follow him. “Don’t forget your laptop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> “My Own Best Friend” from Chicago  
> “Only Us” from Dear Evan Hansen  
> “Bad Idea (Reprise)” from Waitress


	8. Sing for Today

“I can’t believe we’ve been singing musical songs for days and I missed it!” Lance bemoaned around a mouth full of cake.

Everyone was gathered in the kitchen. Before he started baking, Hunk had used Pidge’s laptop to pull up a recording of events that had just happened in the lounge. By the time the cake was ready, it had been played all the way through four times.

“You didn’t miss it,” Hunk said, cutting himself another piece of cake (he felt he deserved it). “You were right there the whole time.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know!” Lance complained. “Think of all the amazing musical moments I missed!”

“Hey Hunk, what was Lance’s heart-song again?” Pidge asked with a sly look.

“Fight for Me,” Hunk said, laughing along with Pidge. Lance turned red, muttering “Shut up,” at the two of them. 

“Sorry buddy,” Hunk said. “But hey, look on the bright side. At least it wasn’t Dead Girl Walking!”

Pidge burst out laughing as Lance turned even redder. “What’s Dead Girl Walking about?” Keith asked Lance.

“I’ll, um, tell you later,” Lance said. “Pidge don’t you dare!” he quickly added as she opened her mouth with a gleeful expression.

“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. When Lance looked away she met Keith’s eyes and mouthed “Sex.”

Keith let out a little “oh,” glancing at Lance before looking away, his face turning an identical shade of red.

The doors opened, and Allura and Coran walked through.

“Allura!” Shiro called out, a little too loudly. He coughed and lowered his tone. “Allura. Were you able to help Coran?”

“I was,” she said, taking the empty seat next to Shiro.

“Oh, good,” Hunk said, relieved. “So you did have your heart-song on the cube? And you sang your last song and everything?” he asked Coran.

“Yes indeed to both, Hunk,” Coran said, grabbing himself a piece of cake before taking a seat at the table next to Hunk. “And my heart-song did in fact occur the time you were there to listen to it.”

“What was it about?” Lance asked curiously.

“Oh, I don’t know if we should repeat it,” Allura said, looking at Coran. “It was rather personal.”

“Hey, all of us now know each other’s personal business,” Pidge complained. “It’s only fair that we get to hear Coran’s too.”

“Technically I haven’t heard any of your songs yet,” Coran corrected. “Since I was still under the effects of the fruit, I haven’t been able to hear your songs yet at all.”

“Fine,” Pidge said. “Then as soon as you hear our songs, you have to tell us what yours was about. Deal?”

“Deal,” Coran said, leaning over the table to shake Pidge’s hand.

“Just think, you’ll get to see Pidge refer to herself as Baby!” Lance said, teasing Pidge.

“It was part of the lyrics!” Pidge snapped at him while the others chuckled. “Besides, I’m not the one who actually cried like a baby,” she huffed at him.

“Hey!” Lance said, offended. “It was an emotional moment!”

Keith reached out and put his hand on Lance’s arm. “I thought it was sweet,” he said to Lance.

“Aww, thanks babe,” Lance said, patting Keith’s hand with his free hand. Keith leaned over to whisper in Lance’s ear. Hunk, who was seated on the other side of Lance, could just make out the words.

“Call me babe again and I will end you.”

Lance gulped. “Message received… kitten,” he added teasingly. 

Keith quickly removed his hand from Lance’s arm, annoyed, but Lance laughed and leaned over to hug him. Keith rolled his eyes but Hunk could see a small smile on his face.

“Wow,” Pidge deadpanned. “How exactly did we miss this?”

“Hey, we were covered in about ten layers of denial and misunderstanding,” Lance defended. “I want to know how we missed that.” He gestured at Shiro and Allura, who had apparently, while the others had been talking, been slowly scooting their chairs closer together, until Allura now had her head resting on Shiro while he petted her hair. They both jumped up straight when the others looked.

“So, Shiro,” Keith asked, smirking at him. “How long has this been going on, exactly?”

“Well, we both knew we were attracted to each other for a while now,” Allura said, holding Shiro’s hand.

Shiro continued, “But we decided that getting together would probably be a…”

“A bad idea?” Hunk finished for him.

“Yes, that” Shiro said, rolling his eyes while the others laughed. 

“If you want, I can show you guys your heart-song later,” Hunk offered. “It’s really cute.”

“Yes, I think I would like to see that,” Allura said, smiling at Hunk. She glanced at Shiro. “Maybe in private.”

Hunk nodded in agreement and turned to Keith. “I’ve also got yours recorded, Keith, though we’d have to go to the training room to see it. It’s more… sad, than cute, though.”

“What was my song?” Keith asked curiously.

“Waving Through a Window,” Hunk replied.

Keith shrugged, clearly not knowing what that meant. In fact, nobody reacted to that except for Lance. “Aww, Keith!” he cried out. “Dear Evan Hansen represented your inner feelings? Poor guy!”

“I have a question,” Pidge said, while Keith tried to reassure Lance (unsuccessfully) that he was fine. “How is it that we could sing all these songs, anyway?”

“I thought we explained, Number Five?” Coran asked. “It was the fruit we consumed on Planet-”

Pidge waved him off. “Yes, yes, I get it about the fruit, though really that’s still pretty weird. What I mean is, I don’t recognize most of these songs we’ve been singing, and I doubt Allura, Shiro, or Keith knows them either. So how were we able to know all of the words, and coordinate those dance numbers?”

“I have a theory,” Allura said. “I suspect it has to do with the paladin bond.”

“The paladin bond?” Hunk repeated.

“Yes,” Allura said, nodding. “You five are all connected to your lions, and through the lions, to each other. Your minds literally connect when you form Voltron. I am also tied to Voltron through my life force. It must be through this connection that we were able to learn these songs.”

“So if one person knew the words to a musical song, we all had access to it?” Pidge summed up.

“Precisely,” Allura said.

“Well then, I guess we know who to blame for knowing way too many showtunes,” Pidge said, looking at Lance.

“Hey!” Lance protested. “It’s not just all me!”

“That’s true,” Hunk admitted. “The Waitress songs were probably mostly from me. Sorry guys, it’s my favorite musical.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Hunk,” Shiro said, smiling at him. “This was in no way your fault. In fact, I’m proud of how you were able to handle this all on your own.”

“Thanks, Shiro,” Hunk replied. “It wasn’t easy. Especially towards the end there.”

“I’d like to say sorry again for what we said to you earlier, Hunk,” Allura said. A chorus of “sorry” echoed her words from the others. “It wasn’t fair to you, especially with all you’d been doing for us.”

“It’s alright, really,” Hunk said, trying to reassure her. “You didn’t know what was going on, and I’ll admit I was probably acting strange from your perspective.”

“Still, we’re very grateful to you, Hunk,” Allura insisted. “Thank you.”

“Aww, shucks,” Hunk said looking away, half-teasing, half-sincerely grateful.

“Hey Hunk,” Lance said, nudging him. “If the songs came from you and me, do you know what Pidge’s last song was? Cause I’ve heard it several times now, and I don’t recognize it at all.”

“Actually, no,” Hunk answered. “I assumed it came from you.”

“Wasn’t me,” Lance said, shaking his head.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion before a quiet voice said, “It’s from Chicago.” 

Hunk and the others turned to look at Keith. He cleared his throat and spoke louder. “It’s called My Own Best Friend,” he said. “And it’s from Chicago.”

“Oh my gosh,” Lance said slowly. “Keith, do you know musicals? You know musicals, don’t you? I knew there was a reason I liked you,” he added, teasing.

“No,” Keith said defensively.

“But you know Chicago?” Hunk clarified. Keith nodded.

“Is it because of the murder?” Lance asked gleefully. “Do you like that musical because it’s about murderesses? That’s concerning, but I could see it.”

“No!” Keith snapped. “Look, when I left the Garrison, bringing stuff with me to listen to wasn’t exactly my highest priority, okay? The person who lived in my shack before me left like five albums there, and one of them happened to be the soundtrack to Chicago.”

“So you listened to it often enough to memorize one of the lesser-known songs from it?” Pidge asked. 

“I didn’t have a lot of choice! It was either that or Backstreet Boys!”

“Are you now telling me that you know the words to Backstreet Boys songs?” asked Lance.

“No,” Keith said, too quickly. “Shut up,” he moaned when everyone but the Alteans started laughing.

“It’s alright, Keithy-boy, I forgive you,” Lance said, patting his back. “In all honesty though, if you do know Chicago, I’d love to learn some of the songs from you. I only know the Cell Block Tango.”

“…sure,” Keith said, once he seemed certain that Lance was being serious. He leaned towards Lance, once again whispering loud enough for Hunk to hear. “You’ll have to kiss me for them, though.”

“Deal,” Lance said, holding out his hand, which Keith shook.

“Too cute,” Hunk said, smiling at them.

“Too cute,” Pidge repeated in a far different tone, making gagging noises. Coran just smiled at all of them, while Shiro and Allura still seemed to be having a hard time keeping their eyes off of each other.

Hunk looked around him. See just how happy everyone was made him sigh contentedly. It had been a tough ride, but it seemed that everything had worked out for the better.

Coran, who was seated on his other side, leaned over to Hunk.

“Do you want to know what my heart-song was about, Hunk?” Coran whispered to him. He gestured Hunk closer and Hunk leaned in to listen. “It was that I longed for a family, but feared I would never be able to have one. However,” he looked around at the others chatting and laughing with each other, “I realize now that I do.” He smiled at Hunk.

Hunk smiled back at him, not trusting himself to speak. Coran seemed to understand though, nodding in gratitude before turning back around.

Seeing that everyone had finished their cake, Hunk stood up to gather the dishes, feeling an overwhelming amount of happiness. And perhaps mania from sleep-deprivation, but mostly happiness. Smiling, he started to sing the song that was running through his head.

“Opening up,” he sang as he stood, “into a new day.”

“Open to love,” he continued, winking at Allura and Shiro as he took their plates. The two blushed a bit but were smiling. “Isn’t it amazing what comes our way?”

“One at a time, every day falls in line. Learning to love what’s on the inside,” he sang, directing the last line towards Lance and Keith. Keith looked as embarrassed as Shiro and Allura, but Lance was beaming.

“Looking around at the same things, all of them changing, cause everything does.” He looked at Pidge as he sang that line, who nodded like she understood.

“Life’s reopening here, and we’re opening up,” Hunk sang, patting Coran on the back as he passed by. 

Lance, who looked like he couldn’t contain himself any more, joined in on the next line. “To what’s inside of…”

Pidge rolled her eyes, but added her voice to the next line. “What’s inside of…”

“Love!” All three sang out together in unison. Allura and Shiro looked at each other, and Lance nudged Keith.

All seven of them, including Coran, came together on the last word.

“Love!” They all sang out, their voices mixing together perfectly, loud, sure, and strong.

Hunk smiled. “Sugar, butter, flour!” he added once the last notes had faded away, placing all the dishes in the sink.

Everyone looked around each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

And Hunk knew that everything was going to be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter: 
> 
> “Opening Up (Finale)” from Waitress
> 
>  
> 
> And that’s a wrap! This is now my first finished story on this site! Milestone!
> 
> A big thanks to all of you who read, gave kudos, and commented. It means so much to me.
> 
> The title and chapter titles in this fic came from a camp song that I know. All of the chapter titles combined make up the chorus. Other songs I almost used for chapter titles, or may use if I ever use this concept again: "Sing" by My Chemical Romance, and "Dream On" by Aerosmith.
> 
> If you liked this fic, or just generally like the idea of musicals/singing + Voltron, here are some others you should check out: Chapter 4 of "tethering" by fairyuphoria, "Messages" by potato_fan_girl (specifically chapters 2, 6, and 7), and "Singing is Easier" by Anielka. Also, the pancakes bit from the first chapter was totally inspired by Chapter 5 of "Live. Die. Repeat." by greenteafiend, which is not about musicals but is still amazing. 
> 
> Lastly, I do have a [Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/H2H27ENY) account if anyone is interested in showing their support that way. As a student, coffee is basically a necessity for me.
> 
> This was fun!


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